Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi
by Dilnos521
Summary: Welcome to Gamindustri, a land governed by goddesses locked in a war. Four Witches have been shown, but now it's time for the catalyst that starts the adventure: the fifth and final Witch. Her memories lost, it's time for Rosalina to see a new world, meet new friends, and fight new enemies as well as old ones. All while finding the others. Based on HDN Re;Birth1. Rated T for now.
1. Team Neptune

...Okay, after some looking around, an attempt from Gertrud to beat it back into me (I say "attempt" not so much because she went through with it but rather because she was more concerned with why she was suddenly in the author notes after a while _**[We chatted with her some more after that beating]**_ ), and some thinking, I think Lio's got something to fix this.

 _ **Yeah. We took a while to make sure by checking the data.**_

And?

 _ **Well, we need to just let Blanc beat you back into shape.**_

...Back...into... _ARE YOU F***-_

 ** _Yes, we're serious about this. Think about it: what other person could you name that could do the job apart from Gertrud?_**

Neptune! Noire! Hell, find Plutia and have her transform, boom! Problem solved!

 _ **Neptune wouldn't just do it unless there's a gag involved, we'd like to see you try getting a tsundere to punch your lights out (and we refer to your attempt, not the odds of said tsundere actually doing it), and we, along with the readers, would like to have the author still in one piece mentally. And possibly physically.**_

...I'm going to go into a corner and cry for a bit...

 _ **Shouldn't you deal with the readers still reading this first and then go in a corner and cry? Besides, we'll keep looking into it, but for now...**_

...Crap! I forgot! Forget everything you read, just...

*clears throat* Hello, and welcome to the main event in the series, _Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi_!

Now, I usually don't do this given I try to move on from previous stories review-wise once I finish them (they're still nice to read, but I usually consider the previous story as donein a responding-to-reviews fashion), but I feel that, as I got done with the trailers a while back and as they were trailers more than actual chapters (to me, at least), I'd reply to the reviews from Leo's trailer in _Witches of Gamindustri: Dawn of Witches_ :

 _Ekuro268_ : Thanks...as you could already see, Lio's working on getting what might bring it back. Can't believe I have to endure another round of Whack-An-Author...

 _kineke13_ : Given the time differences, a lot. Also, thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the story.

 _Guest (Guest)_ : I will need to consider adding them. I am well aware that the characters introduced as DLC back in Victory (won't name them just in case) make appearances in the Re;Birth storyline (and that Nisa's and Gust's roles are given to other characters in RB2), but...I am also aware that there are probably people who wanted to see them reappear in the remakes (I personally would have liked to have actually used them while playing RB1 to get a feel for what they were like). I will point out, however, that I would be needing to do a lot of research into them to replace actually playing the first two games in the whole series (fortunately, I read a manga that had them, so I feel it's a good start). Which brings us to the matter: like I've been doing with my other series, I will extend this offer to you.

If anyone (no matter who) ever feels like I could improve a character that I depict in the story (I am going to be as close to their original personality as I can get given the nature of this story, but I'm not perfect), feel like a plot point could have more justice done with it, or just have an idea for the story, then I invite you to let me know either via PM or a review. I read your reviews and, though I won't reply to them until a later update, I do take notes on what people say. In the case of ideas, even if I don't use them it's not because I hate them. It's just that I write because I have a story I want to tell, and if I feel that it can't work with the direction I want to go in then I can't use it. Ultimately, I want to be able to tell it but at the same time make sure that you, the readers, still enjoy reading it even if it's not my best update.

...Man, that went a little towards serious, didn't it? Not that it's bad or anything! Besides all that, thanks for reading.

Anyways, that's it for the reviews. Let's just get right into this with the "prologue" of the story...but first, a disclaimer!

 ** _Disclaimer: The author does not own any part of the_ **_Hyperdimension Neptunia_ _ **or** Strike Witches **series...well, he does own the three Re;Birth games, but that's it. All characters except for his OCs (four of who are featured in the trailers) belong to their respective owners. Also, any references within the story belong to their original owners (apparently, he decided to make us say this).**_

Oh, and before I forget: if you've been keeping up with the news, I am involved with something called the "FanFicCollective" and we now have a forum and community for it right here on the site! If you're interested in a few other fandoms, particularly _Strike Witches_ or _Ace Combat_ at the moment, please stop by and check them out (just search for "fanficcollective" or head to my profile for a link to the forum and community).

Now on to the "prologue"!

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 0: Team Neptune**

Some people might say that being a Dogoo was a bit...interesting. Despite being slimy, they do give off a cute appearance thanks to their dog features.

At least, I found myself thinking that.

"Dogoo!" one of them said as I watched them from behind a bush.

As I looked at them, I went over the details of why we were looking for them in my head: it was part of an extermination quest, and as we had learned fairly recently thanks to our nurse-in-training teammate the things at least came back to life after a while. Not in the same exact area, like right where they used to be, but maybe a half-mile away or something like that.

I have no idea, I'm still wrapping my head around some of the newer concepts around here.

Anyways, I looked out towards another bush that seemed to be wriggling around a fair bit. I was dressed in what most people would consider not being "battle attire", being some sort of uniform consisting of a green plaited skirt, a black vest over a white T-shirt, black socks going up to my mid-thighs, and white sneakers. Inside my hair was a little hairclip designed to look like a green Dogoo. Resting on my left wrist was a special watch my father had given me, and around my right wrist was a bracelet with a small green gem that had been embedded in it.

Who's wiggling in that bush over there? That's going cause attention; if we're not careful, we'll lose our prey!

...My God(dess), it's her, isn't it?

Sighing internally, I gripped the black hilt of the jian sword I had strapped to my back, being made of copper (I wasn't a blacksmith, so I was unsure of the problems with it, if any), with my right hand as I rested my left hand on the energy blaster (located on the left side of my hips) I had been given with the sword, having copper plating over it. Bouncing against my right side was a strange red disc hanging by a clip, held by a sort of holster that poked through the middle of the disc and held it in place via some small ridges.

"They really co-ordinate weapons to look similar to each other, don't they?" you might be wondering.

Anyways, I slipped the blaster out of its holster and got ready to move when I watched as a lilac-haired girl barreled out of the bush across from me.

"Time to roll out!" the girl shouted as she made a katana appear in her hands while running.

...

"Dammit, Neptune..." I told myself as I stepped out of cover and, aiming my blaster and pointing it at one of the Dogoo, which had all stopped their business to watch "Neptune" running towards them, fired a bolt of green that managed to hit one of them for some damage. I then watched as a few elements appeared across my HUD, telling me who was in my party of three as well as their partners. Also, it served to track our health and SP bars.

"Hiyah!" Neptune called out as she reached them and started attacking the Dogoo I had shot. "Keep up, Ro-Ro!"

Keep up? What is this, a competition? "Why'd you rush them?" I started to run towards the group.

"I was getting bored! Besides, I wanna get this done as soon as possible!"

"That doesn't constitute you charging in madly and striking." I unsheathed the jian sword and felt its weight in my hand. Its blade stretched out for about thirty inches from pommel to tip. I aimed the blaster again and fired once more, hitting another Dogoo. "Where's our other partner?"

"Right here!" a third voice called out as a syringe swung past my view before being bonked on Neptune's Dogoo's head. "Sorry, but Nep-Nep went too fast for me..." I watched as the syringe was pulled back towards our nurse-in-training, named Compa.

"It's fine. Just annoyed that someone initiated combat too early..."

"Don't have a fuss over it!" Neptune called out as she kicked her target away from her before she got ready to use one of her skills. " **Cross Combo!** " She then rushed up to the Dogoo and swung her katana into it about five times, sending it up into the air on the fifth swing that had been made as a sort of uppercut before she jumped and (with a slam of her weapon) sent it back down to earth. This caused the Dogoo to disappear in a flash of light.

I targeted one of the surviving enemies and swung my sword into it a bit, scoring a hit before I quickly pointed my blaster at it and fired two point-blank shots into the Dogoo. I then called out, "Hikari!" as I swung my sword up and launched the slimy monster into the air.

"Ro-Ro, behind you!" Compa called out suddenly.

"Huh?" I asked as I turned around quickly and watched as a Dogoo did a flying tackle into me, sending me into the ground back first.

...For being made of slime, these things sure pack a punch.

Slightly dazed, I lifted my head to watch as the Dogoo that had attacked me jumped into the air, ready to drop onto me.

Thinking quickly, I raised my blaster before I watched as a energy-charged bullet slid past the Dogoo. It didn't knock it off course, but it was enough to angle its body awkwardly, and I took my chance as I fired a round of my own that sent it flying and slamming into its partner. I took the time to get back onto my feet and had a quick look at my health bar, seeing that I had taken about three percent damage.

"Thanks, Hikari," I said as the Dogoo landed on their heads. Taking their now-dazed appearances, I started to give off a green aura and let some animal features appear (a pair of gray wolf ears on my head and a wolf's tail poking out from around my tailbone) before I charged at them. " **Rush Combo!** " I then caught one of them in my slash, and I felt my aura follow along as I slashed at it by delivering a second blow right after each one (and I did about the same amount as Neptune, even knocking it into the air, but only on the sixth strike). This caused the Dogoo to vanish from the world as I watched my SP gauge drop a bit to show my expended amount.

"Nice going, Ro-Ro!" Compa called out happily. "That's another one."

We then looked at the final one, which seemed a little too out of it to do anything damaging.

"Should I put it out of its misery?" I asked my teammates as I raised my blaster.

"I dunno," Neptune said. "I'd probably want to see how long it takes to snap out of it."

"And this idea is coming from the girl who rushed the plan?"

Neptune blinked as she made some sort of face. "At least I managed to get results, right?"

I chose to ignore her comment for now. "Compa?"

"Well, Mister Monster looks a little vulnerable," Compa reasoned. "It'd be a good idea to finish him off, but..."

"But?"

"Well, maybe we should give him a chance before we do it, just to see what else it does."

...We've faced a load of these things, Compa. Back when it was just the three of us and before our other two teammates joined our team. Why are you now choosing to "see what else it does"? "IF, what do you..."

" **Demon Flame,** " a new voice ordered as we watched the Dogoo go up in a pillar of flames. I then blinked as Compa's battle information was replaced with our final teammate's, IF.

Speaking of, the brunette who had finished off our last target was walking up to us.

"Hey, Iffy!" Neptune complained. "No fair! You took the last kill!"

"You three were taking too long," IF told her as Hikari came over to join us. "Besides, we're all getting the same experience." She then looked at me. "Well, except for you, but that's only because Hikari's paired up with you."

Fair point. I learned that Hikari and I had some passive abilities when partnered. Hers was a boost in experience points gained, which is a resource around here for getting stronger skills and stats, and an increase in her partner's MENTALITY stat (which, according to my guide, represented one's magical defense) when the partner rank was a certain level.

Mine? I had the same MENTALITY boost Hikari had, but I gave a decrease in the amount of SP used for skills.

"Sorry..." Hikari said cautiously, holding her Sniping Peashooter in her hands. She seemed to prefer saying as little as possible when speaking unless she felt comfortable.

"I'm not scolding you or anything, Hikari," IF replied quickly. "I know you're more comfortable around her, and I can't really say anything against it: at least you're getting more comfortable around the rest of us as well."

"That's true." Hikari strapped it onto her back via a sort of strap that was made to resemble a blade of grass. "Sorry either way." She then gave off a meek smile.

Neptune then looked at us and said in a cheerful tone, "Alright, now that we got that quota done, why don't we get some lunch?"

XXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later, and we were seated at a booth in a diner, waiting for our lunch to arrive.

"So, I've been wondering for a while now..." IF began as she sat cross from me, Compa to her left. Hikari took a seat to my left as Neptune was to my right, myself being in the middle. "Well, Hikari and I met you three back in that cave, but how did you girls even come together?"

"Huh?" I asked. "Didn't we tell you?"

"No." IF shook her head. "Normally, I'm not wanting to pry into someone's personal life, but given what happened in that cave yesterday I can't just ignore it much longer."

"That's fair, I guess."

"Ooh!" Neptune suddenly said excitedly. "Are we going to be telling a story? Because I've got an awesome one!"

"...Yes, Nep," IF deadpanned. "I want to hear all about how you saved Gamindustri from the menace of a horde of pudding cups."

"No, I'm serious! I've got a good one!"

The brunette sighed. "Alright, let's hear it."

Neptune gave some thought before shaking her head. "...I've got nothing, actually."

"...why did I expect the amnesiac to say that?"

"Hey, I'm still missing some memories over here," I told IF. I then got a little nervous. "I mean, I've got some back, but..."

"You have Hikari to help out there, though."

"I'd like to hear more." Hikari added. "If you could please...tell us how you three met?"

"You sure?" I asked.

"We could help out!" Neptune offered. "We have our own views on what happened."

"Yeah," Compa added. "Ro-Ro, I can start by telling them how I first met you."

"...How _did_ you?" I chose to ask. I only remembered waking up, not really what happened to bring me here.

"How did you and Rosalina meet?" IF asked as well.

"Ah," Compa said as she gave it some thought. "Let's see now..."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Compa's POV_

I finished a batch of pudding that I had decided to make so that I could have a snack and decided to go into my room to get ready to head off to bed.

Well, that was until I started hearing some weird noises.

"Hmm?" I asked myself as I paused from getting undressed and listened closely. There wasn't anything new when I stopped, so I resumed my task and grabbed my white nightgown when the noise returned. "The noise came back..." Slipping my sleepwear on, I looked around my room but found nothing.

Suddenly, a red portal just...well, the best word I could use to describe it was "opened" in front of my bed, and a girl was spat out of it before it closed. The whole time it was making a noise that hurt my ears, forcing me to cover them quickly.

Uncovering my ears, I looked at the girl who had just appeared out of "thin air". She seemed to be my age, but she was dressed rather oddly: she wore a black tank top with white slippers over her feet. Her black hair looked to be in a ponytail, and on top of her head were a pair of wolf ears. Sticking out from her tailbone area was a bushy wolf's tail, which seemed to be covering...

Um...what is it she's wearing below her hips? She seemed to be wearing a pair of black panties.

I stood there as I tried figuring out what I should be doing. Do I see if she's alright or run and get someone who can make better sense of this? I mean, unless she was a cosplayer or something, the girl had no reason to be without a skirt at the very least.

Though...is that tail real? What about her animal ears?

I knelt down and reached out to touch her tail when it disappeared in a smooth rush of white light along with her animal ears.

That was weird...were they just illusions?

I shook my head. I need to make sure she's okay before she wakes up and tries to move.

I checked her legs first as they were already uncovered and saw that they looked fine. Next were her arms, and I just realized that she had a strange watch on her left wrist, so I added that to what I could see about her appearnace. When I was satisfied that she wasn't hurt a lot on her limbs, I grabbed the bottom of her tank top and lifted it up a bit to see if she was cut underneath. I didn't see anything wrong there either, so with a sigh I scooped her up and laid her on my bed.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

Alright, there goes the first chapter in this new series. Well, prologue...not sure what to actually call this...so for now consider this "Chapter 0" or something.

Anyways, let's see here…

Okay, for starters, if you're reading this first entry, then I have finished Project Himebana (if you've read that) and will be working on this one as well as Project Global (part of my other series). If you're interested in seeing what the latter involves, please check out my profile.

 _ **And I'll be helping Dilnos here with his bold problem.**_

...Lio?

 _ **We swear, we didn't let him in! We didn't even know he got here!**_

...Why do I feel like you're lying? Anyways, hello.

 _ **Well hello to you too, good sir (╭ರ_•́).**_

Okay...I was hoping for a better introduction next chapter, but let's see...since you're here, please introduce yourself to the readers.

 _ **Sure thing. Hello, my name is Ekuro268. As you can see in the author notes up at the top, I've been commenting, as well as helping Dilnos here with the beta reading and feeding information about weapons.**_

Thanks for that, by the way.

 _ **Hold on a second! Why is he also bold and italics?! Also, you're going to replace us? You're replacing us, aren't you?**_

...You're not getting replaced, Lio. It's just that...erm, why are you here?

 _ **Because I've found a breakthrough for how you can get your bolding ability back!**_

...You did?

 _ **He did?**_

 _ **Well yes, but...it does need a 'sacrifice'…*Looks at Lio***_

 _ **Oh no! We're not going to be sacrificed! We already survived a Neuroi Explosion a long time ago, we're not going through that crap again!**_

 _ ***Sigh* I don't really mean killing someone off, I mean someone giving up their bold text.**_

 _ ***Sigh* Thank...something. We were thinking we were going to be out of a job…**_

Glad to see your priorities are straight, Lio...

 _ **So...who's giving it up?**_

...Well, I can't for starters. I don't even have them right now.

 _ **We rather like our bolding abilities. Besides, we were first with it!**_

 _ **Well aren't you such a good employee, Lio...Whatever, I'll be the one to give it up.**_

Hang on, wouldn't that leak into your other works? I mean, I've had it happen already, but...

 _ **Meh, doesn't really matter. Didn't really like the bold text to begin with.**_

 _ **...So why use it?**_

 _ **Because I can?**_

 _ **...That's it? We can keep our bolding for that same reason!**_

Okay, that's enough, Lio. Is there anything we need for this...ritual? Sacrifice? ...Hokey-pokey dance?

 _ **Hokey-pok- well, nevermind, it's more of a 'Bold transfusion' as I call it. It might be a painful process, though...give or take.**_

 _ **...Really? That's a terrible pun, and we quoted something from a movie before!**_

 _ **That pun was unintentional…**_

 _ **And you shall be severely pun-**_

Okay! Don't need too many bold-italics crowding the screen at some point! Anyways, we'll cover the...whatever it is between chapters...which the next one is in a bit, to be honest.

Other than that, please read and respond and let me know what you thought of the first entry.

Thanks, and I will see you in the next chapter...which is in a bit.

 _ **And I'll put your payment on your tab.**_

Wait, what?


	2. A Curious Case of Amnesia

**...Needles...why does it have to be needles...**

 _Oh quit being such a baby, it wasn't that bad was it?_

 **...Have you ever been poked by a gigantic needle?**

 _You mean "Compa-size" needle? Been through worse._

 **…**

 ** _...Does that mean you…?_**

 _No. It was just a small needle (¬_¬)._

 ** _…(-_-) So why bring it up?_**

 _Because Dilnos here mentioned a gigantic needle?_

 **I'm not exactly afraid of a needle, but why a giant one and not, say, a normal-sized one?**

 _Aww, come on, it was only a six-inch needle. Come on..._

 ** _Teach us your ways master!_**

 _Didn't we have a fight last time we talked?_

 ** _We did?_**

 **Really, Lio? "Teach me your ways"? Anyways, it is kind of nice that you returned my stolen bolding to me…**

 _I didn't steal it, Blanc did. Or...more like beat the Bold out of you..._

 ** _Speaking of which, we were gone during the procedure. What exactly happened?_**

 **...Long story...long, long, story...long, long, long story...long, long...**

 _He's just scared of needles Lio…(¬_¬)._

 **...long, long, long-hey, I just said I wasn't!**

 ** _You know, why didn't we just get Compa to handle this? Isn't she certified?_**

 _No, Compa is a nurse-in-training and she wasn't trained to do 'Bold transfusions', doctors are._

 _ **...Wait...you're not a doctor...are you?**_

 _Does being a time traveler in a blue box count as one?_

 ** _...For that series, yes. Not here. Besides, what does that have to do with-_**

 **Don't worry about it, Lio. Anyways, let me/us be the first to welcome you to the first/second chapter. Not quite sure what to call the previous chapter, but for now here's the start of the events that brought Rosalina, Compa, and Neptune together...**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 1: A Curious Case of Amnesia**

 _Rosalina's POV_

I opened my eyes slowly and was staring up at a ceiling. A rather...erm...is it pink or white? I can't tell; there's a bright light above me.

Or is that something else?

Dunno...

"Ugh, where am I?" I asked myself as I sat up and looked around me. The room seemed to be made for a girl because there was a small army of stuffed animals in one small alcove of the room. The walls were painted pink, and the bed had some sort of white...frilly...stuff on the edges of these...blankets?

Am I having problems remembering things? Might have to do with whatever got me into this mess.

...What even happened to get me here?

Taking a little more time to look, I saw that next to the bed was a small table with a lamp on it.

"This looks rather...pink..." I only noted before I heard footsteps followed by a girl entering the room. She wore a tan-white woolen sleeveless shirt with matching woolen...detached sleeves? How did she manage that? I'm serious: is it a sweater or a tank top with optional sleeves?

Anyways, the rest can actually be said calmly: there was a red...plaid skirt with the sweater/tank-top-with-sleeves/whatever and a pair of boots that matched her top half's coloration and style, though they had a pair of fuzzy balls at the top of each boot, covered up to halfway between her feet and her knees, and looked like there was a wedge under her feet or something. A black choker with a little pinkish heart was around her neck, covering her legs were blackish brown socks that reached up to around halfway between her knees and her skirt (the top of these seemed to have light pink heart-shaped frills cut into them), and there was a black hip bag for some reason. On her head was a black headband with a white C-shaped cutout on it. Her hair looked to be a fusion between light cream and light pink, and it was rather long, going down to around the middle of her back though it curled around the edges.

"Good morning!" the girl greeted me as she looked at me with eyes that seemed to match her hair color. "How are you feeling?"

"I...don't know..." I said carefully. "What happened?"

"Oh...well, I can't really explain it very well, but there was this big weird red portal that appeared in my room and spat you out."

I blinked. "Portal?" I registered something on my left wrist, and I brought it into view to find a watch (I think that's what it was) with a brown strap or sorts and a gold edge around the face. On the face were some markings that seemed to be numbers on them along with a red second hand, a long black minute hand and a shorter one for the hour.

The girl nodded in agreement. "Yep. You looked to be fine, but you didn't seem to have a skirt on, so I put one of mine on you. I hope you don't really mind..."

...What is she talking about, me not having a skirt? "Oh, um...that's very kind of you...miss...?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Compa."

"Com...pa?"

The girl, Compa, nodded her head in agreement. "Yeppie. What's your name, miss?"

"My...name...?" What is my name? I looked around through my memories but for some reason... "I can't seem to remember it right now..."

"You don't remember?" Compa looked at me with intrigue. "Oh...you've got amnesia, huh? I've never seen a case like this before. So you can't remember anything?"

"I can remember some things, but...my name's not really one of them right now..." For some reason, I started hearing some voices talking about something. "...Hang on..."

" _What should we name her?_ " a woman's voice asked.

" _We could name her after you,_ " a man's voice replied. " _Though...maybe not...let me think..._ "

" _She's definitely having your last name, but what's her first name going to be?_ "

" _Hmm..._ "

" _You know, we could name her after Rosalie..._ "

" _You know...I think I have a_ _better name for her...Okay, little miss, from this point on, your name is going to be Rosalina Dietlinde-Trude Sage._ "

"My name's Rosalina..." I said slowly.

"Rosa...lina, huh?" Compa replied before she gave it some thought. "Hmm...can I call you 'Ro-Ro' for short?"

"Sure?" I wasn't sure why she wanted to pick that name, but if she wanted to use it instead of my name (as long as she remembered my real name)...

"Then it's a pleasure to meet you, Ro-Ro!" Compa smiled cutely. "Now, how do you feel right now?"

"Rather fine, I guess. Why?"

"Because we're going to have to go shopping."

Shopping? "For what?"

"Well, you're going to need your own set of clothes. I mean...I don't really mind letting someone borrow my skirt, but..."

Oh. She might not have a lot left for herself. "That's a good idea then."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Um...there's not a lot of choices, are there?" I asked carefully as I followed Compa through the clothes store she had insisted on heading to.

"Not really," Compa told me as we passed by a pile of red plaid skirts like Compa's current set. "There are some jeans, but...they're not really accommodating for movement."

"Movement?"

"Yeah. You're not from around here, so...there are monsters we have to deal with, but we have weapons to protect ourselves and beat up any bad Mister Monsters we meet."

Monsters? "Like...erm..." What was I trying to remember?

"Oh right, you don't know of any, huh?" I nodded my head. "Well, we'll have to stop and get you a weapon as well. Though I don't have too many credits on hand..."

"...Credits? Is that your...money?"

"Yeah. I'll have to see how much I have right now..." Compa looked around on her person and found a card in her bag (she had told me it was a purse) and, pulling a strange device and tapping a few buttons, found an answer to her credit count. "I have a thousand right now. Just enough to buy a costume that's rather cheap. Well, for this place, anyways."

"Costume?"

"Oh, it's not too hard to think about. Usually, if you're looking to replace something specific, you pay for that item only. A costume is a term we use to describe a set of clothes that are put together and sold as one. They're usually cheaper than buying everything separately, though you could always make your own clothes...but with your amnesia I don't really think you should try seeing if you can do that sort of thing." Compa stopped next to a screen next to a fitting room and looked at it. "Alright. Let's see...'Try on'...let's see...ah, here we go. Now, let me see..." To me, she added, "Okay, Ro-Ro, just step inside and wait for some clothes to appear. There's a little compartment that materializes them for you."

...That's a bit...advanced for going clothes shopping. "Alright...please don't give me anything...too indecent..."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Compa's POV_

As I watched Rosalina enter the fitting room, I turned my attention to the screen, where I was scrolling through costumes sets the store had at the moment. These stores are designed to recommend costumes based on your party composition, but as we weren't in an actual party I couldn't see any recommendations for her. That, and I just barely met her.

Hmm...too...um...weird...

Hey, what about this one?

I touched the icon for a costume called "Virtual Jersey" and waited a bit as Rosalina tried on the costume...

Before she had her first complaint about it.

"Compa?" she asked me. "This feels a little...tight around my chest."

Huh, I guess that's not for her...wait, let me see if I can find a different size.

...And there's only one size. Weird.

Best keep going...

No, those are the same: only one size...

Ooh, how about this one then? It's apparently called "Sage Set-Up".

I tapped it and waited a while as Rosalina took her time getting undressed and into the costume.

"Hey, um...Compa?" Rosalina asked me. "Where exactly are we?"

"Hmm?" I tried before I realized what she was trying to ask. "Oh! Well, we're in Planeptune right now. This is the main city of the landmass, which we just call Planeptune to make it easier on our memories."

"I'm not sure how hard it is to remember a landmass name and a city name at the same time."

"True. But I never really knew why it was like that. I was just born and raised to think like that."

"...That makes sense. I mean, I don't have much room to talk given I can't remember anything beyond how to speak and my name among other things."

"Anyways, how much longer do you have to get ready?"

"Almost there...just finding the skirt I tossed around here...hold on..."

I wonder if she had any reaction to the panties that came with the costume.

I never really understood why that was the case (since I was able to earn my own credits after a while, I got my own set of clothes, hand-picked. I don't know, but...I didn't really like the closest costume to my size, so I had to pick everything out myself right down to my bra and panties).

"Okay, I'm ready," Rosalina told me as she stepped outside. She was wearing a thin black vest with a pocket on either size at the top, a white T-shirt underneath it, and a green plaited skirt. Covering her legs up to halfway on her thighs were black socks, and on her feet were a pair of white sneakers. Resting on her head was a little hairclip in the shape of a green Dogoo on it.

"Huh," I could only say as I looked at her. "It looks good on you."

"Yeah, but...do I really need a skirt?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well...aren't there any guys fighting out there?"

"Yeah, but...I don't think you need to worry about it. I can't really say it with certainty, but I'm sure there are some girls out there who prefer fighting in a skirt over fighting in a pair of pants."

"Alright, because I don't want anyone peeking under my skirt."

"Well...depending on your body's flexibility in battle, you might not have to worry about it too much. Everyone fights a certain way, based on their preferred weapon as well as how they trained themselves or were trained to fight."

"...Still not too sure there..."

"Well, we can buy you something that's not a skirt so that if we ever have any male party members you can wear that. Alright?"

"I guess so..."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

I have no idea how Compa can feel confident fighting out there without worrying about if some guy's going to peek up her skirt or something.

At least she understood and, since my costume came to a total of around nine hundred credits, she chose to get me a pair of black-colored girls' gym shorts to wear when I felt like it for an extra hundred.

I really have to find a way to repay her as soon as I could.

"Compa, you said this city's called Planeptune, right?" I asked quickly.

"Yep," Compa replied. "I've never really been to any of the other landmasses my entire life, but I know enough about them to explain some of the basics to you if you want."

"I guess. Is there anything I should know right off the bat?"

"Well..." Compa gave that question some thought. "There's the goddesses..."

"Goddesses?" What does she mean by that?

"Yeppie! Each landmass is governed by a Console Patron Unit, or Sea-Pee-you for short. We just call them goddesses to make it a bit easier since the citizens of each landmass worship one of the four."

"So...four landmasses, four goddesses..."

"Each person's belief is added up and a particular amount is allocated to a corresponding goddess, the resulting amount being called Shares."

"Meaning...?"

"Well, if you worship Lady Purple Heart and I do too, then we both get counted for Planeptune's Shares, which is allocated to Lady Purple Heart. The same can be said if you worshiped one of the other goddesses instead."

I think I can see the logic: belief is turned into energy for a goddess to use...for what exactly?

I decided to ask Compa that, and her reply was: "Well...whatever they need. Usually, a goddess depends on Shares to operate at peak condition, but it also gauges how powerful she is."

"So too little and she's almost useless, but too much and she's a complete powerhouse?"

"Something like that. I wonder who you'd worship after a while..."

"I don't really know..."

"Well, I think that's enough for now. We should get to my apartment...oh wait! We need some weapons for you!" She then realized a problem. "Oh, right...I don't have any credit left to use..."

"I'm sure I can find some way," I told her calmly. "Besides, you've done a whole lot for me so far, so I should be repaying the favor."

The girl shook her head quickly. "Nope. I enjoy helping others in trouble, and as you appeared in my room I can't just turn you away."

"I see...hmm..." I then got an idea. "Compa, can you wait here a second?"

"Hmm?" Compa asked me. "Why?"

"I have an idea I want to try."

"Sure...what is it?"

"Have anything we can sell for some quick money?"

"Maybe...but...why?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure you'd like to sell this thing?" the shopkeeper we went to asked as I handed him the hairclip in my hair and asked for a price on it. "It does look fine on you."

"Sorry, but I was hoping to buy myself some weapons," I told him quickly. "We don't have any cash left, so I was hoping to sell it and get some credits back, even if it's not much."

"Hmm...this came with your costume, didn't it?"

"Yeah. The costume set cost nine hundred."

"Oh. Well, you would only really get four-fifty back, young lady."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Items get sold at up to half their original value. Just how it goes. Even if I gave you the amount it's worth, the lowest for a weapon is higher than five hundred credits. Well, a decent weapon."

"Well...that's just great..." I closed my eyes and tried thinking of an idea I could try here.

I can't get a weapon without credits, and we have almost no way of getting that much money unless I strip off all my clothes, change back into the last set up I was in, and sell that (at half price, apparently).

Okay, calm down, Rosalina...you can figure this out...no need to panic...

"Miss?" the shopkeeper asked me.

"Ro-Ro?" Compa added.

"Huh?" I replied as I opened my eyes and looked at them.

"Your head..."

I glanced upward and didn't really see anything, so out of habit I placed my right hand on top and soon rubbed against a wolf's ear. My left hand joined in as it found the other half of the pair, and I squeezed them gently as I rubbed them.

Why do I have a pair of wolf ears now? I don't recall that hairclip doing that sort of thing...

Panicking slightly, I instinctively looked behind me and found a bushy gray tail sticking out from behind me. It seemed to be sticking out from behind my skirt, around where my tailbone is. Now that I think about it, I had a green aura surrounding my body.

"Interesting," the shopkeeper added. "You seem to have some animal ears...and a green aura around you. Do you mind if I take a quick picture?"

"Um...why?" I asked, confused. Is this supposed to be normal?

"It's something that doesn't happen a lot. Or at all, I guess. Just wanted to document it."

"Oh...um...sure..."

The shopkeeper reached under the counter and pulled out a digital camera. Pointing it at me, he took a quick picture and looked to make sure it was good. "Alright. Thanks, I'll keep it as a memento. In return, I guess I can treat you to a weapon or two. On the house."

"Gee, thanks...but are you sure? I mean, don't you..."

"Don't worry, I think my boss will understand when I show him the picture if he asks for proof."

"Okay."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So you want a jian sword and an energy pistol?" the shopkeeper asked me once I went around the store and found some weapons I had wanted. "Hmm..."

"It's not a problem, is it?" I asked in return.

"No, no, but...I thought you'd be using just a sword. Not many people use two different weapons to fight."

"Well, I kinda find the idea of shooting something to be a safer thing than being close up." I only really got the sword, though, because Compa had asked me to grab it. She had said something about using it in case an enemy got in close (she said something about not knowing my stats yet, so she wasn't sure how far I can move in battle. Something I'm still trying to figure out).

"Ah. Hybrid fighting? I think it's a good idea, but then again like I said not a lot of people use both hands to fight. I mean, there are two-handed weapons but almost never two swords for someone, and definitely not a gun and a sword. Well, I did say they'd be on the house, so please take real good care of them."

"Thanks, sir." I then watched as he placed a few extra things on the counter. "What are these?"

"You're going to need some more things for the road." He pointed to a small card like the one Compa had. "A credit card, for starters. They always hand these out for free so that adventurers can start collecting payments and profits as soon as they can." He then pointed to a strange little device that seemed to be like a handheld game system, colored mainly black with lilac detailing. "And this is the N-Gear. It's an experimental device Lady Purple Heart asked to provide for those who don't have a phone or something else to access some of the more important things, and the current color's one of many choices for it. With this, you can manage equipments, check your balance, and get calls on it." He then pointed to a final piece of equipment he had laid on the counter. "And a small bonus. You better take this little thing." It was a bracelet that seemed to have a small green gem embedded in it. "You'll need something like this. It's not much, but your stats will thank you for it."

"Oh, um...thanks?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"That's so nice of him," Compa said as we walked out of the shop and headed back to her place. "He did have a good reason for giving you those extra stuff, Ro-Ro."

"Yeah," I said as I was busy fiddling with what the man had called the N-Gear. "I have no idea how to even make sense of this...I mean...Equipment...Party...Config?" I pushed a few buttons and selected that last option. "Change camera control...huh?" I then backed out of it. "Okay, this is going to get some getting used to."

"He must have really liked your wolf ears and tail if he gave you that. But there are some differences between that and phones from what I heard."

I was intrigued. "Why?"

"Phones are better for calling and texting, but I hear the N-Gear can manage things a phone can't. Like..." She then gave some thought into what my device can do that her phone couldn't. "I think a classmate of mine once said that it can keep track of two party members' compatibility."

Compatibility? "Like...a couple?"

Compa shook her head. "Not like that, Ro-Ro! But kinda...it's like...a pairing system..."

...I see I'm going to have to do some homework and figure out what that's supposed to mean. "Okay, I guess that works for now. So now what?"

"Well, let me see..." Compa looked at her phone for the time. "It's almost time to prepare dinner. You hungry?"

"Yeah..." My stomach growled in agreement. "I guess I haven't eaten in a while...though I also feel somewhat...exhausted..."

"Ah..." Compa then realized something: I hadn't exactly eaten anything since coming to. "I'm so sorry! I forgot to feed you something!"

"Eh?" I was stunned. "Oh no, I'm fine with it, really!"

"Oh...are you sure?"

"Yeah! I m-mean, I know you've done everything you could, so..."

"Ah. I see. Well, we better get home so I can get going on dinner. Wouldn't want you to go to bed on an empty stomach."

I smiled faintly. "Yeah...thanks, Compa..."

"It's no problem, Ro-Ro!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Around nine at night (at least, that's what my watch said once Compa reminded me of how to tell time), I was sitting outside Compa's home as I was busy looking through the N-Gear.

I recently discovered that my current equipment could be seen via the Equipment section, and it seemed like I could examine others' as well (I got a little circle over mine, so I assume that I could at some point or something). I also found a small electronic manual on some of the functions for it. For instance, address book contacts were made by connecting devices...or something like that. I tried that with Compa so we could have each other's contact information in an emergency, and it seemed to work by sending a connection invite between her phone and my N-Gear. Still have no idea how, though.

"Hey there, Ro-Ro," Compa said as she stepped outside, holding a cup of pudding in one hand and a small spoon in the other. "What are you doing out here right now?"

"Oh, just continuing with looking at this device's function," I replied. "You have next to no idea how weird this is for me."

"I see. Mind if I sit out here with you?"

I shook my head. "I don't mind."

Compa sat down to my right and looked at the night sky. "You know, I always wondered something."

"Hmm?" I turned to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well...I see some stars out in the night sky, but I haven't really seen a shooting star a lot."

I considered asking about what a "shooting star" was but chose to ignore it in favor of asking the following: "What do you do with it?"

"I wish for something, of course. But...it's rather hard to say that it's come true."

"Meaning what?"

"Well...I've wanted something big to happen. Not like a catas...cutus...cat-a-stre-pe..."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why do you sound like that?"

"I never really learned how to pronounce that word very well. I've seen it a few times, but I haven't heard it said a lot."

"I see. Maybe I can help...hmm...Cat...a...stre...pe...erm..." I closed my eyes and thought of the word she was trying to use before I knew it. "Catastrophe?"

"Yeah, that's the word! Catas...cutus..."

I opened my eyes and looked at the girl. "Let's work on it a little at a time, alright? Kata."

"Kat...a..." I noticed that she was giving a determined face as she worked on pronouncing the word.

"Stro."

"Stro..."

"Phe. Think of it spelled like 'Fifi'."

"...Fi?"

"Yeah. Try it all together."

"Cat...a...stro...fi...cata...stro...phe...catastrophe?"

"There you go."

Compa smiled widely. "Thanks, Ro-Ro! I never knew you had a way with words. Your memories must be coming back some more."

"Well...it's coming back slowly...but not by much..."

"Well, I think we should celebrate!" Compa stood onto her feet and I followed suit, the two of us looking at the sky one more time before heading inside. Soon, we saw a sort of bright streak tear through the sky, heading to some unknown location. "A shooting star?"

"That's what a shooting star is?"

Compa turned to face me. "Of course, silly. Even you have to know what it is...right, Ro-Ro?"

Erm...would it be bad for me to say that I thought it was a star that had a gun or something? "Yeah! How silly of me. Of course I knew."

"Still, I don't really think that was a normal shooting star." Soon, we saw a bright light being emitted over the buildings of the city. "Yeah, definitely not."

"Should we go check it out?"

"Yeah. Let me get some things really quick and then we'll get going."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Compa's POV_

Virtua Forest.

That seemed to be the closest place there was to Planeptune's main city, and for some reason I think that's where the "shooting star" hit the ground.

Thankfully, there weren't any enemies to be dealing with right now, though I did ask Rosalina to carry her weapons just in case we ran into something.

"How much farther, Compa?" Rosalina asked me as we walked through the forest.

"I don't know," I told her as I was looking at my phone, which had a map printed on the screen. "I don't really have a complete picture of the place yet. Though there seems to be something of importance around here."

"How can you tell?"

"Look at my map really quick."

Rosalina leaned in and saw the map of the forest I had so far, noticing an orange-shaded diamond shape with an exclamation point inside said shape. "Oh. That's it?"

"Yeah."

"That's really convenient..." Rosalina pulled away and walked ahead, me following her as we continued looking around. Soon, we found a crater ahead of us.

"I think we found our object," Rosalina noted as we reached the edge of said crater. "Now, what's in here that's so..." She stopped as she peered over.

"What is it, Ro-Ro?" I asked as I looked down as well. Inside the crater was a young girl with a big white hoodie-like dress. The dress had purple-striped cuffs along with a purple lining and a purple hood. The outside of the outfit had pale ice blue and light lilac accents to it. There were also a zipper on the front of her dress, two big round pockets with some purple marks on them, a big circular zipper attached to the zipper line that had an N on it, and strings that seemed to make me think of some USB plugs. There seemed to be a simple white choker around her neck. She also had lilac-colored shoes with blue and white accents, and covering her legs were blue-and-white-striped stockings. Her skin looked to be...fair, and her hair was light purple, reaching down to her shoulders and having somewhat messy bangs. There were a lot of strands sticking up and a few framing her face. In her hair were a pair of gamepad-shaped hairclips.

"It's a little girl?" Rosalina asked.

"Looks like it," I replied. "How odd..."

"Well..." My newfound friend sighed. "Guess I have no choice but to go and grab her." She crouched down and got ready to slide down there.

"Hold on, Ro-Ro!"

Rosalina stopped her movement and looked at me. "What is it, Compa?"

"Let me get her."

My friend blinked. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm training to be a nurse. Transporting bodies comes with the training. Besides, I'm not really suited for taking damage." If we end up in combat, we need to protect the girl, and if Rosalina (who's probably stronger than me in the STRENGTH and VITALITY stats) is busy carrying her then that left me, and that would spell a rather poor GAME OVER for me.

Rosalina stood up and nodded in understanding. "Alright, Compa. Be careful on the way down, alright?"

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **...And there's the end of the first/second chapter.**

 ** _So...what is your updating schedule going to be?_**

 _*Listening to Music*_

 **That's a good question…Wait, hang on. You brought music?**

 ** _Why do we not get music?_**

 _Hmm? Oh I'm just listening to music from this floating red dice here, just plugged it in with my earphones, is there a problem?_

 **Dice…?**

 ** _Floating red? Wait a second…_**

 ***Examines Lionelis really quick* You have a cable out of...one of your faces.**

 _Wait…that floating red dice is Lio?_

 ** _...Since when did we come with an audio jack for earphones, Oh_ Glorious _Creator?_**

 **And since when did you have music?**

 _ **(O_O) You created us for a story, and you forgot all about our database?!**_

 _Umm...did I do something wrong here?_

 **I don't think so…**

 ** _So this is what it feels like to have something inside you…_**

 _Oh dear lord..._

 **Okay, moving on! Anyways, I never realized he actually had one in the author notes. Must be only the notes, though...anyways, I'm assuming you know about the possibilities of other characters coming in from time to time, right?**

 _Yes, why's that?_

 **Just wanted to double-check…**

 ** _Hey, wonder if we can charge ourselves around here…_**

 **...Lio, you're a Neuroi core. Not an iPhone.**

 _Are you sure about that, Dilnos? I mean, I think I see one...I think..._

 **...Given you just plugged in earphones to an audio jack neither of us were aware of...I wouldn't be surprised at this point. Also, really?**

 _Didn't you create him or something?_

 **Yeah, but...this is a Neuroi core we're talking about here. Also, I lose track of his features due to these being words on the screen.**

 _You have such a good creator, Lio. Did you know that?_

 ** _Yeah, updates regularly. Got lots of issues to sort out..._**

 **Hey, now's not the time for a tag-team session on my flaws! *sigh* Maybe I enjoyed it better when I at least had Neptune around along with Lio…**

 _Ask and ye shall receive..._

 **...I'm seeing her in the next chapter, aren't I?**

 _Not my story..._

 ** _With your luck, yes._**

 **...Dammit...anyways, please read and respond and let me know what you thought of these first two chapters. And if you find a mistake about a character's personality (I do try to match them but I'm only human ((** _Two human beings_ **) [ _Also, that's the most clichéd excuse we know of…_ ]) or have any questions, please feel free to let me know. Also, any suggestions you have will be considered, so feel free to do that as well.**

 **Thanks, and may the start of this new series be (hopefully) good.**

 ** _Let's hope so. Given your updating luck so far, we're running low on rent…_**

 **You don't even pay rent!**


	3. Neptune, Crater Girl Extraordinaire!

**Well, hello there. Didn't expect you to be here right now...**

 _ **You're updating this, we think you know about it.**_

 **Ah, right. Just trying to practice** **some new openers.**

 **Anyways, hello and welcome to the next chapter of** _Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi_ **. For now, Ekuro268 is going to be busy ( _Anyone get the feeling he's planning something devious here?_ ), so I will be going solo here. Regardless, I do want to say this: if you're worried that this sort of trend is going to be going into my other stories, don't worry. For the moment, we are only doing this for this story...well, anything related to WoG.**

 **...Anyways, for now let's cover the reviews:**

 _kineke13_ **: Rosalina's amnesia is technically based on her father's memory gap, but you do bring up a valid point in comparing it to Ne** **ptune's (I think it's one...correct me if I'm wrong). As for her familiar and powers, she does share her mother's familiar (just not Krawatte specifically) to an extent; her powers are a mixture of both her parents, though. Which brings up the big question: how do I handle her father's unique ability? Also, to answer that one (since it's not a spoiler and it's something I had planned out a fair time before starting), I can say this: there will be arcs, but unlike my other series (generally two-parters) this one's arcs will be varying lengths (to be fair, it'd be...weird to me to have around fifty two-parters when I usually did a total of ten to twelve). Arcs are based on the game's chapters (so currently I'd call this either "Chapter 1 Arc" or "Planeptune/Neptune Arc"). Anyways, thanks for the review and I hope you continue to enjoy.**

 **...And that's the review for now.**

 **Well, since I forgot to do so for the final chapter in Project Himebana, I'd best get her short introduction done...at the end of this chapter.**

 **...Can't go spoiling things at the start, can I?**

 **Anyways, we continue the story...back at Compa's place.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 2: Neptune, Crater Girl Extraordinaire!**

 _Rosalina's POV_

After the event that was finding a young girl inside a crater out in the nearby forest, Compa and I managed to get her back to the nurse-in-training's place, Compa deciding to lay her on her bed for the night. She had said something about sleeping in the living room, and because I had nothing better to do I said that I'd be in her room in case the girl woke up. I chose to prop myself against a wall and was sleeping when today started off with a bang.

Literally.

How do I describe it? Well, I heard an alarm clock ringing, and out of some sort of instinct (probably because I was hearing the noise) I started waking up. In a sleepy state, I rubbed my eyes a bit in order to try getting them to perk up faster.

"Shuuuut up!"

Next thing I knew, I removed my eyes to look at the source of the new voice and was soon seeing an alarm clock flying right for my face. Panicking, I could only sit still as I soon saw the clock crash against some sort of green-colored circle with some markings around the edge. There also seemed to be some smaller circles orbiting the edge. I also felt the tail I had learned I could materialize pat the wall gently as the ears popped into existence.

Note to self: figure out what exactly I just did. Also, have a word with the new girl about sending things towards me while I'm unaware.

"Oh crackers, did I break something?" the girl in question asked as she sat up slowly.

I looked at the alarm clock on the floor now, which had been smashed almost out of recognition thanks to her forceful shove (or whatever she did to send it flying) and that shield I made (the best I could describe it).

Yeah, I'd say she broke it. I wonder if Compa needed that...

I think the girl took a look around her surroundings and saw me.

"Hey," the girl started. "Is this your room?"

"No," I told her simply. "Sorry, but I'm kinda just, I guess, standing guard around here."

Soon, I watched as Compa entered the room. Must have been the alarm clock ringing (or its utter destruction) that clued her in on the girl's alertness.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," she greeted before she thought about it. "Well, technically, it's good afternoon."

Afternoon? I slept that long? Man, I wonder how tired I was last night...

"Hey, um...this is your room, right?" the girl tried. "Why am I tucked in your bed so snugly?" She then rubbed the back of her head with her right hand.

"Oh. Let me see..." Compa replied as she thought of a way to explain what happened last night. "Last night Ro-Ro and I saw a shooting star, and it seemed to have crashed near the city. That was you."

Understandably, the girl was confused. "Wait, I was a shooting star? Are you yanking my hoodie strings? I fell from the sky like that?"

"Pretty sure. There was a bright light behind the buildings, but I just kinda guessed where you had landed based on the direction of the light. Ro-Ro and I found you inside a crater, and I carried you home by myself while she guarded us since you were unconscious."

"All by yourself? That's cool. Thanks! You're a lot stronger than you look!"

"I'm training to be a nurse, so transporting bodies is part of my training. My name's Compa, um..."

The girl recognized that she hadn't introduced herself and made that move. "Oh, I'm Neptune. So, Compa, huh? I should call you...Com...erm...whatever. Compa it is."

"It's nice to meet you, Nept..." Compa paused as she seemed to struggle with how to pronounce the word. "Neppee...Nepta...Ne-pelvis...Nep...tumor...w...wah..." It looked like she was starting to tear up due to being unable to pronounce the name.

"Oh, is it that hard for you?" Neptune (as her name was) asked Compa. "Alright, then you can call me Neptuna, Nep-Nep, Neppermint or something else!"

Compa seemed to have felt better after hearing that. "Okay, then I choose Nep-Nep. It's nice to meet you, Nep-Nep!"

Neptune then looked over at me. "Hey, um...that's your friend, right, Compa?"

"Hmm?" Compa looked over at me. "Oh, yeah! Nep-Nep, this is Ro-Ro! Well, her real name's Rosa...lina, right?"

"Rosalina," I replied. "Yeah, that's right."

"Oh," Neptune said as she looked closer and saw my animal feature. "Hey, are those part of your costume?"

...I forgot I had them out right now...

Maybe I should dismiss the features. They're raising some questions around here...

I calmed down and dismissed them, making Neptune surprised.

"Whoa!" the girl exclaimed as my animal features disappeared. "You're not a furry, are you?"

...Furry? What in the world is that?

"Um...no?" I replied uncertainly.

"By the by," Compa noted as she thought of something (probably to steer the conversation elsewhere), "I noticed that you were all beat up when I checked you last night. Allow me to take a look really quick."

Neptune blinked but seemed to decide to check herself as she grabbed the zipper on the front of her dress and unzipped it a bit, revealing a blue-and-white striped bra. She then noticed some injuries from her adventures as a "shooting star". "Huh, I am kinda scraped up, right? Alright then, Compa, I'll trust you with this important task!"

"Thanks, but...I just started...and I'm not too savvy...I get bandages all tangled up..." Compa looked nervous about admitting her shortcomings before she leaned in and, finishing unzipping the dress completely so that she could check Neptune's stomach (revealing a pair of blue-and-white striped panties). She then looked at me. "Ro-Ro, can you get me a few things and give us some privacy?"

"Sure, Compa," I replied. "What do you need?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Now I was sitting outside the room, playing with the N-Gear some more. Apparently, Compa said something about "doctor-patient confidentiality", so I just let her do her thing.

Exploring the menus some more, I came across a Party option and, opening it up, was greeted with three more options: "Partner Setup", "Lily Ranks", and "Battle Formation".

I found myself consulting the manual to figure out more about them.

Around here, you're able to have up to three party members engage an enemy (or group of enemies) at a time, with each main party member out front having someone to switch in with should they need to. "Partner Setup" was there to allow you to assign the partners and check each pair, even changing who leads in that slot. It also seemed like you could also change who was considered the "leader" (though it seemed like I could do that from the main menu itself by simply pressing right and hitting a certain button on one of the main three at the moment). There was a stipulation, though: you can mix and match, but your "leader" couldn't be pulled out or switched out with his or her partner unless they were "demoted" (and by that last part, that meant that I couldn't stoip being the leader outside of battle until I assigned one. "Lily Ranks" measured how well a pair worked together, and the area itself was used to compare and track rank levels. "Battle Formation" was just as it sounded: you adjusted the battle formation.

For some reason, I was soon hearing Neptune making some loud noises followed by Compa telling her to stop moving.

I wasn't sure if I should be concerned or not, but I stood up and positioned myself next to the doorway, ready to barge in should I need to.

Apparently, Compa was not kidding about getting her bandages tangled up because I swore I heard Compa say something about fixing the bandages before a thud was heard.

I sighed. Maybe I should put this N-Gear away and see about getting this situation sorted out...

XXXXXXXXXX

"Now that I think about it," Neptune began as she came out of the room a few minutes later, dressed back in her clothes from before, "I have no idea where I am."

"Oh, you're in Planeptune at the moment," Compa replied. She and I were seated at a small table she had in her home, both of us being on our knees.

"The city shares the name with the landmass," I replied. "At least, that's how Compa explained it to me."

"Yeah. There are four landmasses: Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee, and Leanbox. Every now and then, the landmasses get close to each other."

"Hold up really fast..." I blinked. "You live on a floating landmass?"

"Oh, amnesia. Forgot..."

"Wait," Neptune added quickly, "You didn't know about it either?"

I nodded my head and said, "I have amnesia, so I can't remember much beyond my own name clearly. I am recovering them, but not really fast enough for my liking. Why?"

"Well...I don't really remember anything either. That's kinda why I was hoping that you two would be able to tell me..."

"You've got amnesia as well?" Compa and I asked at the same time.

"If that's what it's called, then yepperoni!"

The nurse-in-training and I exchanged looks of confusion with each other. If Neptune's got amnesia, then most likely it was caused by her landing. But why would a young girl like her be falling from the sky?

"Anyways, isn't there medicine for amnesia?" Neptune tried, hoping for a positive answer.

"Sorry, no," Compa told her.

"If there was, though, I would have taken some," I added, trying to be helpful.

"Besides, amnesia's usually temporary. I mean, Ro-Ro's getting some memories back, but it's not like she's going to be her true self for a while. Besides, my grandfather once said that 'fancy may kill or cure', so I'd say get some rest and take it easy. You'll be ready for anything in no time."

Neptune looked a little lost in thought as she took in what the nurse-in-training said.

"Get some sleep?" she asked. "But I feel like I'm missing something...wait, hold up!" She then looked alert for some reason. "I remember that someone was calling me in my dreams. Her name was Histy."

"Histy?" I asked. "Who's that?"

"Histy?" Compa replied. "If it was in your dreams, then it can't be real."

"But I heard her!" Neptune protested. "She went 'pachoo' and talked to me telepathically and everything!"

"Telepathically, you say?" I said as I got up and walked over to her. "Hmm..." I then looked into her light purple eyes, searching for something telling me that I couldn't trust her. I then closed my eyes and calmed down a bit, feeling my animal features form, before I saw a sudden burst of yellow glow appear in front of me. When I studied it very carefully, I noticed that it seemed to have surrounded Neptune.

Why am I seeing this sort of thing? Also, what am I even looking at? And what did it mean?

Something told me that if Neptune had been lying that I would have probably noticed it via the glow, but there was no reason to doubt her. Like I knew what it was about...

"She's telling the truth, Compa," I simply stated as I opened my eyes and dismissed my features.

Compa walked over to me (after getting onto her own feet) and stood to my left, saying, "Alright, Ro-Ro. It is indeed possible, and actually...places are being ravaged by monsters. Usually, the military powers has them under check. However, lately they seem to be having trouble dealing with them, so we can only defend ourselves as long as we can."

Military powers? Why does that sound familiar?

"So there's a boss generating the monsters somewhere, right?" Neptune concluded. "Then that's gotta be what I'm going for! Beat that boss and save the world! And I'm going to get help from Ro-Ro!"

That's an ambitious goal to go for, Neptune...wait...

"Hold up!" I shouted quickly as I waved my hands in front of me. "Who said I was going to be helping you? Who even said I was going to get involved?!"

"Well, you were the only other person who was with Compa," the lilac-haired girl reasoned. "Plus, we're amnesia buddies. Well, at least until you get it back, but still: we're in the same boat. Also, you're a part of this story, so you've got no choice. Them's the breaks."

"Them's the breaks"?

"Hold on, Nep-Nep!" Compa countered. "I know you want to go and fix the problem, but where would you even start?"

"Well, there's gotta be some sort of special place around here for monsters, so...then again, we could always wing it..."

"But..."

"Besides, if we do find it, Ro-Ro and I can just send its backside to the next game."

...Next game? "Erm...Ro-Ro and I could help out as well. I mean, I'm training to be a nurse, so I should help others out when I can."

I sighed. Compa just sealed my fate with the group's formation.

"If you two want me to join in this adventure, then why not?" I asked calmly. "Besides, I have a feeling that I'll find more about myself going out there than staying here. Though..." I then realized something. "Don't you have school to attend, Compa? I mean, you don't look like you're being privately-trained..."

"Well, I would normally be, but with the population declining due to the increase in monster activity, students are leaving the school out of fear, so classes are canceled until further notice."

"...I really hope you know how to heal, because you're the only one who can do it at the moment." Wait, why am I worried about whether Compa can heal us in battle or not? She's a nurse!

"Alrighty, so it's settled!" Neptune announced suddenly. "Compa, where should we go first?"

"Well, I guess we should go check out where we found you," Compa tried. "I mean, maybe there's something we forgot to grab while getting you to safety."

"That's a good idea, Compa," I replied. "What about Neptune getting a weapon?"

"I think Nep-Nep can go without a weapon. We don't have enough credits to get her one of her own."

Oh right, I forgot that Compa spent it all on my current costume. "Alright, so no weapons for Neptune until we find a way to get enough credits to do so. When do we leave?"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Neptune's POV_

Well, this is certainly interesting.

I'm walking alongside the two girls who found me last night, Compa and Ro-Ro. The former was leading the way as she was the only one who knew the way to our destination while Ro-Ro was just keeping an eye out for things.

"So about your wolf tail and ears..." I tried.

"What about them?" Ro-Ro asked me.

"Well, how exactly did you end up with them?"

"...I wish I could remember. I really don't know a lot about my own life or even something like that, but...it feels like it's a part of me. Like we were bonded or something."

"So you have a spirit animal?"

"...Spirit animal?"

I stretched my arms over my head. "It's nothing. Though...I think I can name one reason why you'd have a wolf's features."

"Huh?"

"Well, your boobs are rather big..."

"Hmm?" Ro-Ro looked down at her boobs and looked back at me in confusion. "What's wrong with them?"

I giggled a bit. Maybe I can try to be a bit playful and loosen her up a bit. "Nothing, but they look soft~"

Ro-Ro must have not noticed my attempt at trying to be playful towards her as she continued looking at them. "Not sure if it really matters, but they _are_ mine...I guess."

I let my arms rest at my sides. "Ah." Now that I think about it, I'm the only girl with her chest...well, you know, smaller than her companions'. I think I deserve an answer or something.

"So what about you then? What's with your clothes?"

"Wish I could answer that, but I think it's just my thing. Like how Compa has her skirt or how you have those features."

"Oh...kay..."

I decided to drop the conversation and look around before my eyes landed on a trash can for some reason. Usually, I wouldn't think about going through it but for some reason there seemed to be something useful buried in there. Like it was a stick or something. "Ooh, I've got it!" I then ran over to said trash can and started rummaging through it.

"What are you doing digging through the trash, Neptune?" Ro-Ro asked me as she and Compa came over to see what I was doing carefully.

"I'm looking for something..." I told them before I felt something wooden and, pulling it out, saw that it was a wooden sword. "Aha! I've found it!"

"A piece of wood?"

"No, it's my trusty sword (wood)!" I replied quickly. "It's not a mere piece of wood, my dear Ro-Ro."

"...I'm confused, but if you want it as a weapon until we can get you a better one then I won't stop you."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **...And there's the next chapter.**

 **Well, I did promise a quick intro before we close this chapter, so...quick intro time (sorry if you wanted this in the beginning of the story as well as for forgetting to place it in the correct place):**

 _ **5) Rosalina D.-T. Sage, daughter of Roland and Minna-Dietlinde Sage (not full name; middle initials will be revealed later)**_

 _ **Weapon of Choice: Jian sword and Energy Blaster**_

 _ **Magic: Aura-Based Magic, Spatial-awareness/aura sense, ? (will not reveal this one just yet in case some readers have not read my other series)**_

 **And that's it for the OCs.**

 **Also, heads-up: while the plot will be based on the Re;Birth storyline, references can (and will) be made for the previous games as well as any games in the series at the moment. And since this game does reference other games in other series, I am going to work on a sort of criteria for referencing.**

 **...Hopefully, that makes sense to you guys.**

 **Plus, be on the lookout for a poll announced in the next chapter. If you want to participate in it. If you might be interested, I'll give a clue: it will concern some characters.**

 **Anyways, please...actually, let's try something else for a change just to see: if you enjoyed reading this, leave a review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.**

 **Thanks, and we'll be seeing you next time!**


	4. Cave of a Thousand Problem

_**...He's been gone for a while. You sure he's not planning something for once he gets back?**_

 ***sigh* No, Lio...I seriously doubt Ekuro268 is plotting to do anything "devious". And if he is, then it better not be "same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world".**

 **Anyways, welcome to the next chapter of** _Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi_ **. I am the author, Dilnos521, accompanied by my faithful sidekick Lionelis.**

 _ **When did we get relegated to "sidekick"?**_

 **Well, you do reside in Roland, so...**

 ** _Still...we're not exactly sidekick material._**

 **...What's that supposed to mean?**

 **Anyways, before we get too tangled up in things, let's reply to the reviews from last chapter:**

 _Gamerman22_ **: ...You want to get your eyes checked if they popped out...well, that...event aside, yes, there is a character with Roland's blood in her. Also, I am working on the next chapter of my other series as much as I can, though given my current life goals it is going to be a while. Plus, an idea I had for the arc had a last-minute change to it, so I had to figure out how to tackle the story. from a new angle The idea I had will appear in a later arc, though, so until then I hope you stay tuned to both stories. Also, thanks for the review.**

 **P.S.: To anyone else who haven't read the series where Rosalina's father is from, feel free to check out my other series. I'm not trying to promote it nor am I saying that you need to read what's happened so far there to get a better idea as I will give information in-story based on the situation (if I accidentally make one of the OC Witches into a sort of exposition speaker after a while, feel free to let me know).**

 **And that's the reviews so far.**

 **Now, let's get going onto the next chapter...because I still need to get two characters into the current storyline...**

 ** _So on with the program! Or...you know, the story...whichever it is._**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 3: Cave of a Thousand Problems...and Its Arachnid Guardian**

 _Rosalina's POV_

Welcome back to Virtua Forest. We hope you enjoy your stay, and mind the monsters.

That was ironically a sign I had seen when Neptune, Compa, and I returned to the forest in order to track down the crater and see if we had forgotten anything in our rush to get the lilac-haired girl to safety.

"Monsters, huh?" Neptune had only said once I told her and Compa about the sign. "At least they warned us about it beforehand." She then looked at Compa. "Anyways, Compa, why are we here again?"

"This is where we found you last night," Compa told her. "I figured that if we were to find anything linking you to a memory you lost, we'd find it here. Besides, don't you want to see what your landing spot looked like?"

Neptune gave it some thought. "I guess so..."

"Anyways," I decided to say, "Compa? Something's been bugging me...if we're in a monster-infested area...then how are you going to defend yourself? You don't really look the type to be having weapon training..."

"Oh, right!" Compa said quickly as she snapped her fingers and reached around on her person, feeling around before producing a weapon from...

Erm...to this day, I'm still not sure if she was carrying that around under her skirt (if so, how does she not...you know...hurt herself sitting down or something?) or inside her purse (is that thing enchanted or something? Also, where do I find one?).

The weapon itself wasn't anything important. Well, apart from the fact that it was a giant syringe filled with some sort of liquid.

"Whoa!" Neptune called out in surprise. "Where were you keeping that?"

"That's a Compa secret," the nurse-in-training told us as she held it in a sort of ready position, both hands on it.

"..." I was about to ask something but chose not to bother. Not really so much because I was afraid to ask so much as...well...

"Dogoo!"

...That.

We all looked at the thing that produced that noise and found a small blue squishy creature sitting there, with two more looking like it. It seemed to have a snout like a dog yet have a tail that made me think of a raccoon. Its black beady-like eyes didn't help much in giving off a sort of cute look.

"What the heck is that thing?" Neptune asked us.

I have no idea. Maybe because it said the word "Dogoo", it's called...a Dogoo?

"Be careful!" Compa warned us. "That's a Dogoo. They may look cute, but they're really dangerous."

I stared at one of the Dogoos (Dogoo? Dogooes? How do you say that there's more than one of them?) intently. They can't be that dangerous...

XXXXXXXXXX

I was wrong.

After a quick tutorial from my N-Gear and Compa on the battle mechanics (some sort of action-based battle system), we fought the enemies and won. After taking a few hits.

My right side aches right now only because a stupid Dogoo thought it was a good idea to ram its body(?) there.

"Are you alright, Ro-Ro?" Compa asked me as I had my right hand against the right side of my chest. "You're not too hurt, are you?"

"I'll be fine," I told her. "Just going to take a while to get used to the pain." Apparently, taking a hit depletes your health and hitting zero in combat knocks you out. A GAME OVER occurs if all three party members on the field at the current moment are KO'd (a simpler way to say it). This is most dangerous for solo characters due to having no one around to finish the fight or help them back up.

"Alrighty."

"We sure showed them what for!" Neptune said triumphantly. "Team Neptune for the win!"

...

"We have a team name now?" I asked. Why do we have a team name? And why is it the same as Neptune's own name?

Scratch that: _we_ showed them?! I took most of the hits!

"Anyways, we really should be handling tougher monsters, Compa," Neptune chose to add in. "Aren't there any here?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Compa replied. "Besides, this is an ideal place for Planeptune fighters to begin due to the Dogoo and other low-level monsters around here."

"Aw, but I wanna smash tough bosses with my sword (wood)!"

"To be fair, Nep-Nep, those stats on your weapon wouldn't handle Dangerous-class monsters."

Stats? Wasn't there a way to see those...?

I fished out the N-Gear, which had been in a fanny pack Compa let me borrow (it was an old one she used before getting her newer one, seeing as it was getting a little worn or something) on me, and manipulated the menus to see Neptune's current stats. Just for fun, I also looked at mine and Compa's to get a fair idea of how we compared to her.

We were all about similar to each other in our stats, but Neptune looked to specialize more in STRENGTH and VITALITY while Compa focused more on INTELLECT and MENTALITY. I seemed to be STRENGTH and LUCK at the moment.

So...if a tough monster were to face us...we'd be wiped out completely? Eh, I could understand that.

"Phooey!" Neptune said quickly with a stomp on the ground. "Well, then let's get all the experience points we can get and get strong enough to fight them. I'm getting bored of Dogoo."

"Um, Neptune?" I tried again. "We just fought three so far. Not a hundred."

"Besides, there's more enemies around here than just the Dogoo," Compa continued. "For instance..."

XXXXXXXXXX

About thirty minutes (and four chimes indicating level-ups, complete with my eyes being shown a banner across my vision and my stats with new results) later, and I was panting hard, sitting on the ground as my sword was laying next to me, on my right. My blaster was sitting in its holster at the moment.

Whoever I was before coming here, I was not used to having to fight the same four enemies in the same general area for a half-hour straight.

"You okay, Ro-Ro?" Compa asked, not even showing signs of exhaustion. "You look a little tired..."

Understatement?

"I'm fine," I told her as I breathed heavily. "Just...getting used to this, that's all."

"Oh. Well, I guess you can't really be from Gamindustri, I guess. I can't be certain, but I don't know a lot of people who get tired after a half hour of grinding. Though I'm sure you'll get used to it." To Neptune, who was slightly less bored, she added, "See, Nep-Nep? We've also had Tulips, Dogoo Men, and X-Boxers around here as well."

"Speaking of which...Compa? Why are there even monsters around here?"

"Well...they've been appearing for a few years now. We don't really know why they are, but there are heated debates online about that sort of thing. It's one of the main reasons why we've started using weapons."

"Huh."

"Alright then, enough banter." Compa nodded her head quickly. "We've still got to get to Nep-Nep's landing spot!"

Right, the reason why we're here... "Right."

XXXXXXXXXX

"This is where you guys found me?" Neptune asked once we located her crater. "Jeez, looks like it'd be a big job for a gardener to fill up."

"I don't think a sane gardener would come here with monsters on the prowl," I replied.

"Actually, there are some rather effective weapons for a gardener," Compa mentioned. "But...most of them are expensive, so most who work with gardens don't even buy them. I think there's someone who specializes in plants, though. Keeps talking about shambling zombies and some game involving rolling a defensive-based plant towards said zombies. Well, from what I've heard, I mean."

Neptune slid into the crater and took some time to look around, examining each dirt clump around her while humming to herself.

"No idea," Neptune replied after a while.

"Remember anything about yourself?" Compa asked.

"Nothing. I guess there's nothing for me to remember here." We then watched as Neptune climbed out of the hole she had made and dusted herself off. "Well, I think I'll have to give it some time before I start remembering, I guess..." *CRACK* "...did anyone else just hear that?"

"Hear what?" I tried.

*CRACK*

"That," Neptune replied.

The cracking noise? Alright, if we don't make a move maybe this thing won't break under us...

*CRACK...CRACK*

"Don't move..." I warned the others.

*CRACK...*

...

...

...

...I think it's done.

"Let's move nice and slowly...don't make any sudden movements..." I started again before we heard someone give off a rather cute sneeze.

*CRACK!*

Neptune and I quickly looked at Compa, who was busy smiling timidly as she said, "Sowwy..." while using a tissue for her nose.

*CRUMBLE!*

The first person to start falling was Neptune due to being the closest to the edge of the crater. I followed soon after, with Compa right behind me. All three of us were screaming on the way down, unsure of where we were going to end up.

Soon, I hit the ground hard and blacked out...

XXXXXXXXX

 _Compa's POV_

"Owie..." I groaned as I lifted my head. My whole body was aching from the fall, but for some reason I wasn't scraped up or anything.

"Everyone alright?" Nep-Nep's voice asked.

"Yeah..." I said quickly. "Ro-Ro?"

"I'm fine..." Rosalina's voice replied. "Though can you two get off me please?"

"Hmm?" I asked as I glanced around really quick. "Where are you...?" I then noticed that she said for us to get off of her. Looking down, I saw that she was laying on her stomach as she was being a sort of chair for Nep-Nep and myself. "Oh, sorry!" I got up quickly as Neptune did the same (only being a little more relaxed than I had).

"Thanks..." Rosalina coughed as she got onto her feet and looked around. She seemed to have some dirt on her face. "Wow...this is...strange..."

Nep-Nep and I took a quick look ourselves. We had ended up in some sort of cave with crystals and some other minerals. Up above, the hole we had made shone some light through.

"This _is_ a bit strange..." Nep-Nep said after a bit. "Then again, this is what we get for changing the plot for a remake."

"Changing the what now?" Rosalina asked quickly as she turned her head to look at us.

"Oh, nothing, Ro-Ro~"

Rosalina raised an eyebrow as she shook her head. "So where is this?"

"I...actually don't know," I said, taking a look around. I could see that there were a few enemies around the area, behind us. We were also standing in a circular section of the cave, the only way of leaving being a path behind us. Towards the Mister Monsters. "It looks like it's a cave of some sort. It seems like monsters made it their home after a while."

"That's interesting," Nep-Nep replied as she looked around herself. "At least there's no Dogoo or Tulip around here. I was getting bored of beating those things over and over again, even if we were grinding for levels."

"...I'm going to have a hard time understanding what you're talking about, Neptune," Rosalina added.

Suddenly, we heard some loud footsteps...

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

I stood there as Compa told us about the cave we had landed in, which wasn't much excluding her guess on how there were monsters present. Neptune then said about being bored of killing Dogoo (I'll stick with that until I figure out what the exact way of saying its multiple-unit word is) and Tulips. Which, to be fair, was how I felt. But...why is Neptune making this sound like a game? I mean, experience points? Grinding?

I have a feeling I'm not used to hearing terms like that...

Soon, we heard some loud footsteps before something shoved Neptune and me away from Compa, my back hitting a rock that was sticking out. Feeling my soreness after taking the hit, I got onto my feet and took a look around: for some reason Compa was absent, and Neptune was picking herself off the ground.

"Compa?" I asked.

"Ro-Ro?" Compa's voice said. "I need some help!"

"Help from what?"

"Hey, where are you, Compa?" Neptune called out. "I mean, if you're off-screen having something naughty happen to you..."

I looked at my fellow amnesiac in disbelief. Compa's missing (and needs help), and Neptune's saying something like that?

"What?" Compa asked. "No! I'm just fine! Nothing naughty going on around here!"

Soon, some sort of...strange creature crawled up onto the ground we were on, its left arm holding Compa while balancing a really large golden sword on its right shoulder, holding it with the free hand. It looked to be like a spider or something with ten legs. Four were rather short and seemed to be supporting a head-like structure of the creature. The other six were bigger and seemed to be covered with some natural armor. Its abdomen was behind the head-like structure, being supported with said six larger legs, and had some blackish spikes or something at the tip of it. Towering over the body was something that reminded me of a weird...alien? Not sure, but it looked really menacing. Three fingers were on each "hand", next to its jaws were a spiky structure each that seemed to make a sort of...tusks? For its head, it had a weird structure in front of its lower jaw, and there was a sort of spear-like shape to its head. Said head had four cyan-colored eyes, and its other head had the same thing. Oh, did I forget that the lower head had some structures resembling fangs?

"What the hell is that?" I asked as Neptune and I readied ourselves with our weapons and got into our combat posture. I took a quick look at Neptune's stance and noticed that she stood rather different from me. Well, not too different: I stood with my left side facing the enemy, my blaster being held in my left hand and letting the arm loose a bit, as my right side had my sword in my right hand, the blade pointing diagonally towards the ground. Neptune's stance was similar, but she had more of her front facing the enemy and had both hands on her wooden sword. I think Compa's stance was the most radical out of the three of us: if I recall correctly, she stood with her front facing the enemy, her syringe in both hands as she seemed to sway her hips from side to side a bit while waiting.

"No idea," Neptune said, "but it's got Compa. Let's get her back, Ro-Ro!"

"On it." I raced ahead and swung my sword at the enemy as fast as I could before I felt my sword glance off its body. I tried a few quick shots from the blaster but didn't seem to make much of a dent in it. Neptune tried dealing damage herself, with little success.

"Man," the lilac-haired girl said as we were knocked back from the resulting counter-attack from the Guard Vermin (before we were struck, I saw that there was a name attached to it). "It's going to be tough to get Compa out...maybe we can't handle it by ourselves..."

"I'll try again!" I called out as I charged right in, feeling my animal features appear on my body. I stopped and activated a sort of green field around me before charging at the Guard Vermin.

" **RUSH COMBO!** " I called out as hard as I could as I swung my sword into it as quickly as I could. I lost track of the amount of hits I gave it, but soon it simply swung its sword towards me. I barely snapped out of it in time to see it coming down on me, and I feebly braced for the inevitable demise...

Only to not feel anything.

"Eh?" I asked as I looked up. There was a strange sword holding the Guard Vermin's weapon at bay, a sort of big sword. I then traced along its edge and found its wielder...who was...

Well, similar to Neptune for some reason. The figure was a woman with really long, darker lilac-purple-colored hair done into twin braids. I could make out some black circular pieces with some glowing blue in them, but I wasn't sure how much or how it was arranged. She wore a black skintight leotard purple segments and silver pieces along with it. Her legs were covered with some long leg armor or something that reached halfway up to her thighs, and some black shoes. There seemed to be some floating pieces of equipment around her body, primarily a pair of block-like wings around her back colored peach-like and lilac. There were also some boards around her waist area, three to each side of her hips, some blocks floated over her shoulders, some circular objects with fins protruding from their rounded edges around the outside of her ankles, and similar objects over her head. For some reason, I also saw an N on her rear, a kind of rounded-out N.

"Are you alright, Rosalina?" the woman asked me as she looked at me. I could see that she had her hair around her face still framing it, but they were longer. Her light purple eyes had changed to blue and seemed to have a symbol of a circle being combined with a vertical line.

"...Neptune?" I asked in return. When did Neptune have the ability to do this sort of thing?

"Are you alright?" "Neptune" asked again, getting a little impatient for some reason.

"I'm fine."

"Good." "Neptune" shoved the sword against hers back as she floated there. "I'm going to get that thing to let Compa go. Get her away from it and let me finish it off." She then flew at it, calling out, " **CROSS COMBO!** "

I started running as I sheathed my weapons, watching as the attacks made some impact and made the Guard Vermin let go of Compa in pain. I kept my eyes on the falling nurse before I slid under her, making her land on my stomach. Compa's landing stopped my own slide as my back patted the ground, and I gave off a quick gasp of pain. "You alright, Compa?"

"I'm fine," Compa told me as she got off. I then scrambled onto my feet. "Did Nep-Nep just..."

Change? "Not sure there."

"Oh. Because she really looks determined to beat that thing." I watched as a gash appeared in the Guard Vermin's chest, and it backed off a lot, clutching at the green-bloodied area. For some reason, it was giving off a few blocky shapes from its wound.

"That's it, Neptune! Finish it off!"

Suddenly, however, the woman disappeared in a flash of light and was replaced with the Neptune we remembered, who looked a bit exhausted.

"I'm hungry..." she moaned as she rubbed her stomach.

"...What?" I asked in disbelief. Did she just leave that form because-

The Guard Vermin gave off an ear-splitting roar, making us cover our ears to try saving them.

"Let's get out of here, you two!" Compa called out.

"Good idea!" I called out, sheathing my sword. Racing up to Neptune, I grabbed her right arm and pulled her a bit. "Come on, Neptune! We're leaving!"

"Aw, it's weakened!" she complained. "We can finish it off!"

"That was after your little stunt, Neptune. Unless you go back into it and do it yourself, we are leaving!" I then watched as the Guard Vermin tried charging us, sword ready to swing down on us. "Now!" We started running and soon felt the sword land in the ground behind us, generating some rocks. I felt something nick my leg, but I kept running with Neptune in store.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **...And there's the next chapter.**

 **Now, a few things: in case you haven't seen it, I have gotten some information for this series up on the FanFicCollective wiki, so if you haven't please check it out as well as the information for any of the other stories featured there (even if you don't read their stories, the other authors who worked on their series have put some time and effort into their entries. Plus, it might end up getting you to check their stories out). Which brings me to my next point: I tried making a link to it on my profile page, but...I had recently been informed that Wikia is not whitelisted by FFN, so...I'll say it here and on my profile page, but if you want to check it out simply use a search engine like Google or Bing and search for "fanficcollective". You'll find it on the first search page, though if you don't find it for some reason or want a direct link there (maybe for a bookmark or just to make sure you get to the right location) let me know. I don't really have much right to say the same for the other authors, but I'm certain that they'll help you out as well.**

 **Concerning some details, I will say this: I know that I've seen information about the main stats each character specialize in, but as we're barely in the first few levels of their development in-game it won't be apparent to see right off the bat. Well, at least for Compa, IF, Neptune, and any of the other characters who start off at Level 1 when they join (with some possible exceptions). I only put this in because I recall getting a review on my first story ever pointing out something wrong when the character was the one using the incorrect term (he has since learned what it actually was...some time later in his career...), so I want to try avoiding "Oh, you know [insert name here] specializes in [insert stats here]" as much as possible. At least in the beginning; if it's later on...then you have a right to let me know. Plus, it seems like a bit of a pattern with the fanfics I have read concerning the turn-based games has them going for more of a action RPG feel, and I won't be any different. I have considered doing it like the main games do, but...I'd probably be here a while if I did that.**

 _ **Good news, though: you guys can see some potentially awesome fights here once he gets up to that point, so it's a win-win situation.**_

 **And also: polls! Alright, this one is going to be a bit...complex? Anyways, I had received a suggestion from the trailer about a particular character and formed an idea of using some special elements for later parts of the stories, so I'm going to be enacting a poll to see what you guys think: we're going to do a poll for what character(s) you want to see in this story. Given how it is going to be, I'll be explaining each choice along the way...with help from Lio.**

 _ ***sigh* Alright, let's do this.**_

 _ **1) Nisa:**_ **Now for the first of the characters not in the first remake: Nisa. To be fair, I have no ideas about how to actually portray her, but I have read some of the manga for the series (well, I refer to the whole series, different dimensions and all, just in case), so I can try my best. However, I present her as a choice because I did want to have her be playable so I can meet her while playing. Suffice to say I was a bit disappointed, but not really enough to outright hate the game for it (if that's even possible; it's either part of my nature somewhere...or I didn't really know enough about her to _really_ want her to be in-game). Besides, I know a bit about why she wasn't included, so this one's pretty much up to you guys to decide on.**

 _ **2) Gust:**_ **Next, another of the characters not in the first remake: Gust. The same thing I talked about for Nisa could be said for Gust, so I won't go into too much detail. Though I think deciding to have Broccoli take her role in RB2 was a good move given how I saw her.**

 _ **3) Red:**_ **Alright, now for a third character not in the first remake: Red, the wifey-hunter ( _...Huh? That doesn't really make much sense..._ ). Now, Red falls under a different position for me as far as her appearance in the remake series goes: while Nisa and Gust weren't in either of the first game's or mk2's, Red's seemed to have been switched or something: she appeared in the first game as a DLC but not mk2 for the original line, but in the remake line she appears in RB2 but not RB1 (Correct me if I'm wrong about this). If you choose for her to be added, then...actually, I have no clue. I'll think of something, though.**

 _ **4) 5pb:**_ **Finally, we have 5pb. Like Red, she makes an appearance in RB2, but she had also made an appearance in the first two games as well. Ironically, while I think she replaced MAGES. ( _Yeah, in case you were asking: that's how you spell her name._ ) in RB2 (based on the lack of MAGES. in that game after RB1), she'll appear alongside her cousin (will have to double-check that) in this story if decided.**

 **...And that's that. So voting is kind of simple: I'll have the poll on my profile some time after I upload the chapter, and you'll have until I conclude the current arc (which I think is around Chapter 7 or 8, so...about...a month? Maybe two?) to decide. All it takes is three votes for any of them to be included in the story. ( _This has been marked as SPOILERS for this story by the_ _Anti-Spoiler Squadron_ ) And in case you ask, I didn't add DLC or the CPU Candidates for a reason: I have my own plans for that when the time comes...which is a long way from now. ( _End of SPOILERS_ )**

 **So read, respond, and let us know what you thought of the chapter. And also, please vote: I do have a back-up plan in place if something happens, but I'd like to get input from you guys.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading.**

 ** _We'll see you in the next update...which hopefully is soon...we might be going crazy here..._**


	5. Regroup and Reconsider

**Well, I've got good news: my co-host has returned from...his trip, so let's welcome him back.**

 _Hey guys and girls….if there is any….I'm Ekuro268, Dilnos' co-host!_

 _ **Oh, thank something! We've been thinking: did you do anything suspicious?**_

 _Depends? What sort of suspicious are you talking here?_

 _ **We sensed a large amount of energy consumption around your area. Well, a fair bit farther.**_

 _What are you talking about? Why would I need such large amounts of energy?_

 _ **You tell us. You're the criminal mastermind, not us.**_

 _What? Nah I did nothing suspicious..._

 ** _You sure?_**

 _Sure I'm sure, I totally didn't blackout several cities in several countries..._

 **...**

 _ **Okay, now we're worried...**_

 **...I'm just going to pretend like I didn't hear that at the moment and just...how do you even...**

 _ **Well, you first need to have a lot of power stations re-routed to-**_

 **To the reviews!**

 _kineke13_ **: Yeah. As I said, I did consider doing this turn-based, but...then again, I do better being able to describe a fight in motion than turn-based. As for the first of the four others...I won't say who exactly, but if you recall the trailers and where each of the Witches in that were then you'll find your answer (if you really don't know; if you do, then I need to work on figuring out meanings more...) Also, I did plan on trying to think of more children to help flesh out the backstories of the others, but it would take some time. Apart from that, thanks for the review.**

 **...And those are the reviews so far. Let's see...is there anything else we should address that's not related to power outages?**

 _ **...**_

 _Lightning bolts?_

 **...I guess not? Let's just get to the next chapter. I mean, when did this sort of thing...**

 **[Note: Last I checked, there were no blackouts in several countries during the creation of this opening. This is only in fun, and the only reason this is included...will be revealed at a later time. For now, I will apologize here if someone ended up put off before reaching here. Also, covering bases here just in case.]**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 4: Regroup and Reconsider**

We were lucky to find a convenient way out of the cave via an entrance, bypassing any enemies that tried getting in our way. And by that, I mean "I swung my blaster into them, making them move aside and getting us away fast enough to avoid taking too much damage as we engaged in combat".

Soon, we reached the city and caught our breath, returning to Compa's home tired.

"We've got some money, at least," Compa noted as she was busy sitting on the bed in her room, taking stock of whatever we had via her phone. "That means that we can buy Nep-Nep a better sword. And maybe one for yourself too, Ro-Ro."

"Would we be able to cover it?" Neptune asked as she sat next to Compa, looking over the nurse-in-training's shoulders to look at the screen.

"Hopefully. I didn't get a good look at the weapons available at the time, and we got Ro-Ro's stuff on the house."

"Right," I added, "I still need to thank him for that and not ending up gathering from the trash like Neptune."

"Hey!" Neptune said quickly, seeming insulted. "Woody and I are good together at the moment!"

"...Woody?" I had to ask...

"My sword (wood). I thought I'd give it a name. At first, I thought something along the line of 'Neptune's Stick of Awesomeness', but it ended up being too long, so I just stuck with 'Woody'."

"It sounds like a good idea!" Compa told us. She then looked at me and noticed something. "What is that red mark on your leg, Ro-Ro?"

"Hmm?" I looked down at my legs and saw a red scratch on my right thigh, most likely from the Guard Vermin's sword sending rocks flying when it landed. "Oh, it's nothing serious..."

"Of course it's serious!" Compa got off the bed and walked over to me, digging around in her purse before finding a bottle and a small roll of bandages. She then ordered me to sit down and let her examine my leg for any more injuries, even lifting my skirt up a bit in order to see better and revealing a pair of green panties that had come with the costume. "Left unattended, you could get an infection!" She then pressed something on the bottle and sprayed something wet onto my wound, making me stifle a quick cry of pain. "It's antibiotic, Ro-Ro. Hold on a bit longer..." She then grabbed the bandages and, unrolling some, wrapped it around my leg to cover the wound before tying it into a neat bow, taking care not to get caught like she had with Neptune earlier. "All better!"

"Thanks..." I told her, touching the bandage around my leg. Did I really need that sort of treatment for a small cut of sorts?

"Anyways, I'm hungry," Neptune said, remembering one issue she had. "Do you have anything to eat, Compa?"

"I have something," Compa said. "I'll be back. Ro-Ro, keep Nep-Nep busy." She then left the room.

I took a quick look at Neptune and remembered how her other self had saved me from the Guard Vermin.

"Hey, Neptune?" I started. "Thanks...for saving me back there."

"It's no problem, Ro-Ro," Neptune told me as I stood up and fixed my skirt so my panties weren't showing. "Histy gave me the chance to save you, so you should thank her."

I blinked. "Histy?"

"Yepperoni! She's the reason why I wanted to go on this quest in the first place. She was giving me some tutorial lessons while we were fighting and when we were fighting the Guard Vermin she allowed me to go into..." Neptune thought about what the form was called. "Hard Drive Divinity."

"I see." So that explains the light between Neptune's different forms...and the drastic change in her body...hang on! "So you get more...mature?"

"Huh?" She blinked. "I do?" She then smiled. "I guess I rivaled yours and Compa's chests, huh?"

"Not sure about that, but..." Now that I think about it...her breasts were definitely more defined in "HDD Mode".

"Anyways, don't sweat the save. After all, we're partners, aren't we? Also, we're amnesia buddies, so we've gotta watch out for one another."

This Neptune sounded a lot different compared to the Neptune that had saved me. Maybe she gets a personality change when she undergoes it? Though how does that even...

"I'm back!" Compa said as she was holding three cups of pudding, spoons resting in each of them. "And I've brought something!"

"Goodie!" I watched as Neptune got off the bed and grabbed one of the cups quickly. Compa handed me one of the other two gently. "Thanks, Compa!" She then examined the food. "Um...what is this?"

"It's pudding," I told her. "Try some."

Neptune took a quick bite and tasted the new food (for her) before her face became really bright in expression. "Yahoo! This is some darn-tootin' good pudding! Whoever made this must be the most wonderful pudding goddess in the whole world!"

...Isn't that a bit extreme?

I took a quick bite as well and said, "Agreed. Though I don't really know who actually made them..." I only had one last night, so I'm not sure who made them. Though I think my hunch is telling me something...

"Well, you're looking right at her," Compa announced with a smile.

Neptune and I faced the nurse-in-training and said, "Really?"

"You made this, Compa?" Neptune added, surprised.

"Yeppie!" Compa replied with a nod. She looked really proud.

"Wow, that's so cool!"

"I can make almost any flavor of pudding, but..." Compa frowned a bit. "I'm a little worried about you two, to be honest. Being amnesiacs, you two are doing things most sane people don't really bother doing. Why?"

"It's rather fun!" Neptune replied. "Besides, Ro-Ro was in trouble, so I naturally went in to rescue her."

 _"Protecting people is something a Sage, or any Witch in general, aspires to. Few make it their personal goal, but those who do are prepared to do anything to keep the ones they love safe."_ the male voice (my father?) from before said in my head.

I blinked. Where did that quote come from?

"You okay, Ro-Ro?" Compa asked me.

"I'm fine!" I replied, shaking my head. "I just remembered something someone said to me once...I wanted to protect people. You were in danger, so...I acted the only way I could."

"I see. Well, then..." Compa gave us a short bow. "Thank you, both of you."

"You're welcome, Compa," Neptune added. "After all, you scratch my back, I scratch your itchy spots, right?"

"Anyways, there's no way we're going back there in our current condition, so let's get to bed and rest," I suggested. I'd rather not go back when that thing's enraged, even though now we have Neptune as a secret weapon.

"After dinner, Ro-Ro," Compa reminded me. "It's only around lunchtime."

...Really? Felt we were gone for longer than that.

XXXXXXXXXX

I was laying on the floor, dressed in the clothes Compa had found me in minus the slippers. For some reason, I chose not to include anything to cover my panties, something Neptune took as an example...to a more extreme conclusion: she had stripped down to her bra, socks, and panties only. If I remember correctly, Compa was wearing what she called a light pink nightgown.

We made it a note to buy a set of pajamas for Neptune in the future. Also, I learned that Neptune's undergarments follow a weird sort of logic with blue and white horizontal stripes. Don't ask me, I just noted it.

"Hey, Ro-Ro?" Neptune asked from my right side. She and I were laying on a blanket Compa had gotten us after I said something about needing something to cover the floor. The nurse-in-training was adamant about us sleeping on her bed while she took the floor but I felt like it would be a fun experience to sleep on said floor some more. I suggested her sharing the bed with Neptune, but the lilac-haired girl chose to lay next to me for some reason (well, there was a possible one, but was "being amnesia buddies" really a good reason?).

"What is it, Neptune?" I asked in return.

"Have you ever looked at the sky at night?"

"Huh? Why?" What is she thinking right now?

"I was wondering...I feel like I was asleep the whole way down, so I wasn't sure if I actually saw anything on the way down. And for some reason I couldn't sleep..."

I sat up and looked to my left, which had a pile of clothes containing Neptune's clothes and mine. "If you want, I can take you outside really quick, but we can't spend too long out there. It's probably chilly, too, so bring some clothes." I searched the pile of clothes next to my spot for my black shorts and slipped them on as Neptune grabbed her hoodie dress and slipped it on, not zipping it up. We then stepped outside quietly so as not to disturb Compa and took seats on the floor next to the door and stared out into the sky. We couldn't see a lot, but there were some to be found. And luckily there were no one outside as well. Well, on the walkway we were on, I mean.

"Those are stars, right?" Neptune pointed to one of the stars with her right index finger.

"Yeah."

"Neat-o..."

We sat there in silence for a while before Neptune asked, "Hey, Ro-Ro? If you ever got a chance to get your memories back...would you want to?"

I looked at her out of curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"Well...I don't want to lose a friend because she's no longer an amnesiac...but at the same time I know that it's inevitable somehow." She frowned a bit. "Because of me, you and Compa are taking time away from things to help me out. And you're in the same boat as me."

A trio of strange words came to mind. "Hmm...I think I have a way of making it easy to understand." I cleared my throat and said the words I was thinking of the best I could. " _Age Quod Agis_. 'Do What You Do', rough translation." Hang on a second, how do I know what it means? I've never said the words before until now.

"..." Neptune closed her eyes and nodded slowly.

I stood up and stretched my arms over my head. "Well, better get back inside. Tomorrow night, before we go to bed, we'll stay up and look at the stars as long as you want."

"..." Neptune looked at me with a pleading look in her eyes. "Promise me something, Ro-Ro."

"Promise what?"

"Promise me that, if you ever get your memories back, you and I will still stay friends."

"Well...you've got Compa still, but...sure." I extended a hand to Neptune. "I promise. Besides, I'm not going to stop being friends just because I get my memories back. After all, why would I even consider that?"

"...Thank you." Neptune grabbed my hand and stood up, heading inside. I soon followed, but not before stopping and looking at the night sky.

If I were to make a wish...what wish would I make?

XXXXXXXXXX

Stepping outside to take in some of the city the next morning, we walked by a few stores, doing some window shopping. Things looked rather peaceful, like nothing happened yesterday.

Well, until we heard a few people talking about it.

"Hey, have you heard about the new cave they found?" one guy said. He seemed to be wearing a blue hooded sweater with blue jeans and red sneakers. For some reason, he had a few fins on the hood of his sweater. With the hood over his head, I could make out some blue hair and green eyes.

"I think so," his companion, a boy wearing a yellow track suit that seemed to have a symbol of twin tails sewn into the back of his jacket. He also wore red sneakers, and he had blond hair with blue eyes. "It was discovered yesterday, right?"

"Cave?" I asked Neptune and Compa as we walked by the two. "They're not talking about...?" When I looked at Compa, she looked worried. "Compa?"

"Yeah," the one with the blue sweater replied. "The Guild's put up a request for adventurers to explore it."

"Neat, but...do you think there's anything valuable in there?" His companion asked.

"Not really sure. According to the rumors, there are some precious gems in there, but then again they're just rumors."

"Still, were you planning on checking the Guild and seeing if it's available?"

"Already tried, Miles. Apparently a group of two took the job beforehand. So for now we'll see about finding an area and looking around there ourselves. If it turns out we need reinforcements for that place, we'll apply."

Compa stopped, making the rest of us stop and look at her in worry.

"Compa, you alright?" Neptune asked.

"Kinda..." Compa told us. "I'm just worried about those two in the cave..."

"Don't worry, Compa. I'm sure they're more than capable of kicking that Guard Vermin's backside to an earlier game." ...What does that even mean?

"But...it took you two and your transformed self to try stopping it, and..."

Right, I forgot: Neptune was supposed to land the final blow but reverted back to her usual self due to hunger.

"Hmm..." I said to myself as I tried thinking of something. Did those two talk about a Guild? To Compa, I asked, "Hey, Compa, you don't happen to know where this...Guild is, do you?"

"Guild?" Compa asked as she nodded her head. "Yep."

"Can you take us there?"

"...I see!" Neptune announced. "We can see about getting some information and find a way to check that cave out!"

"It's possible," Compa said. "There are Quests people can do. Some are one-time only, but others are repeatable. Those types are the most accessible due to being available at anytime...as long as you don't already have the quest."

"Well, let's go check it out then!"

XXXXXXXXXX

...And for some reason I was reminded of a train station.

Hang on a second! Why do I know what a train station is?

Anyways, the three of us were huddled around a small screen, Compa busy looking through the long list of quests we could undertake. Apparently, I needed a sort of identification card in order to use the machine myself, so Compa had me make one really fast (a separate machine to make things as hassle-free as possible) while she explained a bit about the basics of quests. Also, for some reason she asked me to select Planeptune as my landmass (something to do with the Shares, or an alibi in case someone thought I looked strange?).

According to her, a quest entailed either gathering some materials (like Dogoo Jelly) or slaying a specific number of enemies (five Tulips, for instance) along with a letter rank (E, D, C, B, A, and S). The closer to the beginning of the alphabet, the more difficult it was. S Rank was the highest, a reason why Compa couldn't come up with.

"Okay, I found a few," Compa replied as she brought up a few quests she had found. "Let's see...we need to go to Virtua Forest for some of these, but I found a few quests that will take us to what they seem to call 'Monster Cave'."

"They have quests there already?" I asked. That was really quick for a trio of girls falling into a new area.

"Well, we are technologically advanced, able to send things via the Internep easily. I heard that it was way more difficult in the old days."

...What? "Internep?"

"Amnesiac, forgot. Well, to put it simply, the Internep is, well, a web of information available to everyone."

"Is it a physical web? Like what spiders build?"

"...No, silly."

This is really going to take some time to get used to...

XXXXXXXXXX

After accepting those quests (which I could track via the N-Gear) and making a stop at Compa's place for some pudding to bring with us (for the road, according to the nurse-in-training's logic), we started walking through Virtua Forest, trying to locate the cave entrance that we had ran out of in our panic-induced escape. According to the world map Compa had on her phone, it was about east of Virtua Forest, which meant that we could go through the forest and complete some of our quests.

So far, we killed our quota for Dogoo and Tulips and were busy fighting another X-Boxer Soul for our gathering quest.

"Victory!" Neptune shouted in triumph as she finished off the X-Boxer, and luckily it had the final soul we needed.

"Good," Compa noted. "Soul's been transported safely to our party's inventory."

"Party inventory?" I asked as I looked at her.

"Yeah. There's the things for all party members to use, like the Healing Grass we got as part of that Beginner's Pack from the store or the SP Drinks. And then there are our personal inventory, which holds the items we don't want getting sold or some personal items we need."

"Like?"

"Well...personal hygiene and all that."

"Oh." I looked at the N-Gear and found a submenu that said "Items". Selecting it, I found myself looking at a screen containing some names. Figuring that those were the items we had bought, I looked through and found the materials we had been gathering for a while. "Yeah, we grabbed two of them, so...that's dealt with." I flicked the N-Gear off and placed it into the fanny pack I had. "Now, let's see about reaching that cave before we get bored."

"More like 'before the reader gets bored of reading this'," Neptune offered quickly.

I sighed. Still don't understand her sometimes...

It took an extra ten minutes, but we soon reached the cave entrance.

"Alright," I said as I checked my blaster and made sure it would be usable when I needed it. Holstering it, I slid my sword out of its sheath and examined it for any damage from the Guard Vermin. There seemed to be some chips in it, but nothing too serious. If we encounter it again, then we're going to have to hope that it doesn't break. "Anyone with second thoughts?"

"Nope!" Neptune voiced.

Compa simply shook her head and said, "Nuh-uh."

"Okay," I concluded as I sheathed my sword. "I guess we're going in." I let my animal features manifest, and we stepped inside.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **And there's the next chapter. Next time will be the official introduction of two particularly-noted girls into the story...well, before the scene where Chapter 0 started, but still!**

 _ **...Wasn't that the plan?**_

 _You only told me this "vaguely"..._

 **...They were were present in Chapter 0, how did you not expect this?**

 ** _Unsure of the future?_**

 **...I don't think predicting works like that...I think…**

 _Well, Kirito "predicted the predictions" during his GGO times so...yeah..._

 **Well anyways, we'll leave it here for now. Before we leave, I do want to say that the poll is currently up still and that, as of the last time I checked, the results are so far that Nisa and 5pb have one more vote to come in. Gust and Red need two more, so if you want to help me decide if they will be added in here as "DLC details" or not (I will be making the story based on their presence, if that makes sense) please take the time to vote on my profile page.**

 **Anyways, please read, respond, and let us know what you thought of this chapter. I'm the author…**

 _And I'm the co-host, and we'll be seeing you next chapter!_

 _ **With more action and other things hopefully.**_


	6. The Rematch and New Party Members?

**Hey there, and welcome to the next chapter of Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi.**

 _ **Now with more Iffy!**_

 **...**

 _Okay..._

 ** _What? It's one of her nicknames._**

 **Not really the point...**

 _I know there's more than one IF because of dimensions, but...why do we need more IF's in this?_

 **Well, this is technically the chapter she and Hikari appear in timeline-wise...**

 _ **And we know by technicality that they appeared in the first chapter, but that was called "Chapter 0".**_

 _And there goes more spoilers…_

 **It was bound to happen…I mean, have you seen the "trailer"?**

 ** _Besides, he's poor at concealing them sometimes…_**

 **Hey!**

 _You're not wrong about that, Lio..._

 **I've been getting better.**

 _ **Yeah...like how using salt on a wound to make it better is "getting better".**_

 _Don't know if that's relevant, Lio, but "practice makes perfect"?_

 _ **We have a saying we just learned: it's called "Works for everyone but him".**_

 _Uh..._

 _ **Speaking of...what about that incident you mentioned last time?**_

 _What are you talking about…?_

 _ **The bit about the blackouts in several countries.**_

 _Did I mention that? No, definitely didn't use that much power to create something hehehe… ^-^;_

 _ **We're not convinced...**_

 _Uh...Dilnos? Little help here?_

 **Um...okay...on to the reviews?**

 _Just saved my bacon…-ish_

 **...Welp, there's not really any reviews to reply to...oh well: it does happens. Besides, I did just create a new crossover category...I think...so the lack of reviews might be a bit warranted. That, or it's something else...**

 **Anyways...well, there we go for that section. Anything else to declare?**

 ** _We hate you._**

 **I've heard that quote a lot, thanks so much. Well, the original quote, mind you.**

 ** _Watch it, or we'll use the phrase that triggers that response._**

 **On to the chapter!**

 _ **[EMERGENCY EDIT: Over two weeks after this chapter was put up, the author spotted a major mistake concerning Hikari's familiar. In the "trailer", it was stated that hers was a shiba inu, but in the original version of this chapter it ended up being that of a Scottish Fold. This, along with a few other, more minor, things have been fixed for this version. The author would like to apologize for not catching this mistake sooner, or even within his double-checking.]**_

 **XXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 5: The Rematch and...New Party Members?**

"Hey, here's a dumb thought, but...do you think caves like this are where they go to do the thing?"

Those were Neptune's first words about five minutes after we came in here.

"...Huh?" Compa asked innocently.

"Neptune, please don't say something like that again," I added. How does that girl know something like that? For that matter...what is she talking about? "If they were born in our sense of the word, then they wouldn't exactly be turning into flashes of light when we kill them."

"Fair point," Neptune conceded as she looked around a bit. "Still...these are some mighty good-looking crystals."

I sighed. "Anyways, we need to be careful around here. The only person who knows their way around here is Compa, and even she hasn't had a chance to go through the whole place." Apparently, four minutes before we reached this point, I asked Compa to look at the map of the place. She sheepishly told me that she didn't have her tracking feature active due to her phone having somehow powered down after we fell and as such was unable to give me a map of the place. So I settled for just looking around while Compa tracked our progress in this place.

"Well, there's nothing but monsters around here," Neptune walked on ahead. "Besides, I'm sure the ones exploring are already long gone."

"Look out!"

THUD!

We watched as Neptune got bowled over by someone, but before I could get halfway between Compa and Neptune to help the lilac-haired girl up I felt something slam into my left side hard. The resulting landing rattled my head before I recovered enough to look at who had just crashed into me.

It was a young-looking girl with auburn-colored hair. Her eyes were currently closed, so I couldn't simply say what color her eyes were. I could tell you that she was wearing a white jacket that seemed to look like a dress of sorts, with white socks that reach up to around her mid-thighs. The dress had blue cuffs, blue detailing, and a blue collar, and I think I saw a few shiny metallic objects on it, around the left side of her chest. I could also make out a pair of white shoes on her feet that looked like they could be slipped off easily, and a strange device on her back. It seemed like it was a pink flower designed to shoot things.

The girl opened her eyes, which were shown to be blue, and looked at me carefully.

"Is that...you, Rosalina?" she asked me.

"Huh?" I asked her. "Yeah, my name's Rosalina-"

The girl then decided to give me a tight hug. A really tight hug. "Thank goodness I found you, Rosalina! I was getting worried that I wouldn't see anyone from home ever again!"

...Who's this girl?

"Ow..." the other figure groaned as I looked at it. It was a girl as well, wearing a black tank top and a pair of short shorts that seemed to be fused into one article of clothing. There was a belt around her waist that had a buckle with the letters I and F on it. Over her body was a oversized, dark blue jacket with black, silver, and white detailing. She didn't have it buttoned up or anything, and there was a belt around it that was loosely opened. It seemed to carry something rectangular in little carrying devices colored differently from each other, totaling nine devices. She wore boots that seemed to match her outfit.

She seemed to have emerald eyes and light brown hair down to her waist. I could see that most of her bangs were long and reached down to her eyes, either curling outward or inward towards her face. There seemed to be a split in the upper left corner of her face. She also had some of her hair reaching down to her chest, some of them even being put into a ponytail that rested on the left side of her head. Holding that ponytail was a leafy green hair piece.

Also, she was apparently sitting a good five feet from Neptune, who was laying there in a slight daze.

"What's a kid doing running around here?" the one with the blue jacket asked.

"Um, she's with us," I said carefully as I laid there.

"You two?" She looked at Compa and me. "Strange..." She then noticed her "partner". "Hikari, let her stand up."

"Right," the one named Hikari replied as she let me go and stood onto her feet. "I'm so sorry about hugging you, Rosalina. And crashing into you."

"It's fine...but who are you?" I asked her.

"Huh? Don't you remember me?"

"Sorry, miss," Compa told her. "Ro-Ro's currently struggling with amnesia right now. If you two had met before, she can't recall it at the moment."

"Amnesia?" Hikari looked at Compa carefully. "As in memory loss?" Compa nodded in agreement. "Huh...I didn't really think she could get it. Or if she did...that it would be like her father. I think he has a memory gap..."

"Who is her father?"

"Well...I'd have to explain...a bit at a time, I guess. I mean...it is rather sensitive stuff and all..."

Compa nodded in understanding. "Oh. I see."

"Anyways, why were you two running into people for?" Neptune asked next. "You better not be making lost girls drop weird amulet thingies or something."

"For your information," the girl with the blue jacket replied, "we were retreating from an angry Guard Vermin, and you two happened to be in our way. Speaking of...who are you three?"

"Oh, right. I'm Neptune, the main character of the game. That over there..." She pointed at Compa. "...is our sweet little Compa. And finally..." She then pointed at me. "Ro-Ro, the main heroine of this story!"

"Game?" Hikari asked. "Ro-Ro?" She seemed confused.

"Don't mind Neptune," I said quickly, "she gets some weird ideas in her head sometimes. Anyways, my name's-"

"Rosalina Dietlinde-Trude Sage." I looked at Hikari, stunned. "My parents and yours were teammates against the Neuroi."

"Neuroi?" Compa asked. "What are those?"

"I...can't explain right now..."

"So what is your name then? I really would have thought I'd remember it if we knew each other..."

"My name's Miyafuji Hikari, or Hikari Miyafuji as your father would refer to me sometimes."

"So is Miyafuji or Hikari your name?"

"Miyafuji's my family name and Hikari's my given name."

"Oh."

"And I'm IF," the other girl, now called IF, told us. "Look, it's good to see some friendly faces in here, but it's still too dangerous for you three around here."

"Oh come on, Iffy," Neptune protested. "We've beaten up enough Dogoo and other things to handle ourselves."

"And Nep-Nep herself weakened that mean old Guard Vermin greatly!" Compa blurted out.

"Her?" IF looked at Neptune. "I don't know if I want to believe it given how you look, but if that's true...then that would explain the scar on it. And its enraged mood."

As if to try letting us know it could hear us, the Guard Vermin gave off a mighty roar.

"Oh dear," Neptune added. "If we're going back in there..then I'm going to be toast if that thing's going to seek revengeance."

"Isn't it supposed to be 'revenge' or 'vengeance'?" IF asked.

"No, silly Iffy, it's much worse than the two of them combined."

IF must have picked on the quickly-applied nickname now. "Don't call me Iffy!" She then sighed. "Well, I do hate to admit it but if Hikari and I are going to head back in there we'd be best off having some extra help. But know that you're joining us."

"You hear that, Compa and Ro-Ro? Iffy and Hikari are going to join our party!"

"Welcome to the party," Compa added politely. "I hope you'll have a good time with us forever."

"Yeah, yeah...wait, what?" IF asked quickly. "No! Not like that! Just for this place."

"You know you can't just separate from us," Neptune replied. "Unless you've got a compelling reason to do so, you're with us until the day we game over."

"Uh...I guess you bring up a valid point. Neither of us have a reason to leave it at the moment, so...also, stop calling me Iffy!"

[ **IF/Iffy** and **Hikari** have joined your party!]

That was the message I saw across the upper edge of my vision for a bit before I blinked.

"Hey, not you too!" IF shouted at no one in particular.

...Um...is she referring to the message we just got?

Feeling a little bored, I pulled out the N-Gear and looked at IF's and Hikari's stats, finding that they had a few levels already and were about one level below us.

"Hey, IF?" I asked carefully, avoiding using the nickname Neptune came up with.

"What is it, Rosalina?" If asked in return.

"Why are you and Hikari at Level Four?"

"Well, we were handling a few quests yesterday. That was when we received the notice about the exploration."

"Oh. Alright, let's get going."

XXXXXXXXXX

It was barely a few minutes later, and we were facing off against two pale orange ghosts, one of which was wearing a blue bow with some white dots on its ghostly tuft of...ghostliness. Joining them was a strange-looking green thing that seemed blocky and posed like it was a drawing or something. Apparently, they were named Clyde, Ms. Clyde (the bow-wearing ghost), and Pixelvader.

"And here we go..." IF said as she stood next to me, her sleeves having some blades poking out from underneath them. "Let's see what we can do."

"Okay," I replied. "Hope we can keep up."

I moved first and was able to deal some damage to the Clyde, Neptune finishing it off while hitting the Ms. Clyde near the end of her swing. IF then decided to use an ability or something called "Demon Flames", which wiped out the Pixelvader for some reason. Ms. Clyde attacked us but did a small amount of damage to me before Neptune finished it off.

"Alright," IF called out as she looked at me. "I've leveled up. Can you check Hikari's progress?"

"Give me a second," I said as I whipped out the N-Gear and looked up Hikari's data, which seemed to indicate that she did indeed reach Level 5. "She's up another level."

"I did?" Hikari asked. "I don't really feel any different...though there was a ding..."

"Probably because we're not completely used to it."

"Right. We usually have to read a book or train to get better or something."

"She's definitely more talkative to you than she was to me," IF added as she dismissed her weapons. Compa put hers back from wherever she got it from, which now seemed to be somewhere that turned it into a flash of data (IF had told me about it a bit). Neptune did the same thing, leaving Hikari and me as the only two with theirs still out. I simply sheathed my sword and holstered my blaster while Hikari slung her gun on her back.

"You two look funny carrying your weapons around with you physically," Neptune said quickly as she looked at us. "Well, Hikari does, at least."

"At least you can send yours to your personal subspace for yours," I muttered. IF was wondering why we had ours still out a while ago, so she decided to show us how to get it done. However, only Neptune was able to successfully transfer it between her personal subspace and the physical world. Compa...did her thing...which was most likely the method IF showed us, and I couldn't do that for the life of me.

"Anyways, I'm sorry, IF..." Hikari added, remembering the brunette's comment. "I'm usually not talkative to strangers...and it takes a while for new friends to hear me talk comfortably...erm..."

"It's okay," IF told her. "To be fair, we've only known each other for, what, about two days?"

"We're not going to hurt you, Miss Hikari," Compa replied.

"Well, not as long as you avoid asking Compa to apply bondages on you," Neptune quipped.

Compa looked flustered as she stared at the lilac-haired amnesiac. "They're _bandages_ , Nep-Nep!"

Speaking of bandages, I looked at my right leg and saw that the bandage was still there.

At least she's not always messing up...though I wonder how bad she can get. I mean, there was Neptune, but was it only for things bigger than a cut?

"Anyways, let's keep moving," I said quickly. "The faster we get this Guard Vermin killed while getting a few experience points in, the better."

"Good point," IF conceded.

XXXXXXXXXX

And so, it took us about ten minutes of grinding a bit and getting our quests done before reaching the Guard Vermin, who looked to be still trying to rest off the injuries caused by Neptune's transformed self, as it was lying on the floor along its body.

"Still can't believe you managed to hit that thing hard, Nep," IF said.

"Of course I did!" Neptune said before she realized what IF had called her. "Hey! Why'd you call me 'Nep'?"

"Well, you kept calling me 'Iffy' so I figured that I'd give you a nickname myself."

"Well...I'll let it slide given you're just shortening my name..."

"How do we want to take it on?" I asked as I readied my blaster.

"Good question," Compa stated. "We'd be best off using Miss Hikari's sniper rifle to help pick Mister Guard Vermin off."

"Excellent idea, Compa. Hikari, can you handle that?"

"I think so," Hikari replied. "I have some sniper training, so I can handle it."

"We should also have Compa out front so that we can heal when necessary. Which means...we should have Neptune be in the front. She did damage to it last time, so it only makes sense for her to try it again."

"What about you and Iffy?" Neptune asked.

"We'll be back-up." I had noticed that we had a slot open behind each party member in the lead, so I could work on an idea... "I'll be your back-up, Neptune. IF, you'll be Hikari's."

"Right." Neptune stepped forward and said, "Alright, let's see...should I go into that form now or later?"

The Guard Vermin sensed her stepping forward and propped itself up with its sword, steadying itself for a bit before getting into a combative position.

"I think we're going to have to be extra careful with that thing," IF added as she readied her weapons. The rest of us did the same as Compa and Hikari stepped next to Neptune.

Neptune moved ahead and slashed it a few times before Hikari moved herself to a place where she could hit it without causing friendly fire, taking a few shots at it.

The Guard Vermin chose to swing at Neptune, knocking her back for some damage.

"Nep-Nep!" Compa called out as she seemed to spin on one foot before she threw her right hand up into the air, "I'll patch you up!" I then looked at Neptune's health and saw that it had been recharged. Compa also had expended a hundred points from her SP gauge.

What did Compa just use to heal Neptune?

I looked around on my N-Gear once I pulled it out and found a menu for Commands. Selecting it, I found a choice for SP Skills and, selecting Compa when I could, saw that she had a skill called "First Aid".

That explains a few things...

Neptune then entered a defensive position and let Hikari fire past her for a while before she left that stance and decided to activate her transformation, revealing her HDD self.

"Transformation complete!" the woman called out before she slashed at the Guard Vermin for a bit. The Guard Vermin struck at her, but it missed her by a few inches. "Rosalina, time to get in."

"Right!" I called out as I ran in front of her and, charging the enemy, slashed it a few times before I found myself being knocked back by the monster. When I looked at my health, I saw that I was down about halfway. "Damn, that must have gotten stronger..." I stood on my feet and steadied myself.

"I'll patch you up as well!" Compa called out as she used First Aid on me. I watched as three-tenth of my health returned to me. For some reason, my body felt a little better after the knockback.

"Thanks, Compa," I called out as Hikari switched out with IF (I guess the Guard Vermin slashed her hard because she explained that she was about two hundred points from a KO). "Any ideas, IF?"

"We can't risk losing Compa," IF told me. "We'll have to distract it and hope it doesn't hit her."

 _Don't let the Guard Vermin hit Compa..._ I thought to myself as I tightened my grip on my sword. I think I can do that somehow...

I ran as far behind the Guard Vermin as I could and slashed at its hind feet hard. This got its attention as it decided to target me by slamming its sword into me. I blocked it with my sword but found myself stumbling.

" **Demon Flames**!" IF called out as a pillar of fire engulfed the enemy, making it stumble back. "I'll handle this, switch out with Nep."

"Right," I replied as Neptune flew past me. "Neptune, be sure to keep it off Compa." The Guard Vermin struck at IF, dealing some damage and getting Neptune with a glancing blow.

"I can handle this now," Neptune announced as she called out her " **Cross Combo** " skill and attacked it. True to her words, the Guard Vermin fell after that blow. "Victory."

"That was rather impressive," IF noted as we gathered around to go over the battle results. "I was kinda worried that Neptune would have some problems with it but...she actually killed it."

"Well, I did have you four weakening it along with Compa keeping us healed."

Wait, how come we couldn't even deal any damage to the Guard Vermin without Neptune going HDD yet have caused it enough damage for that same thing to finish it off?

"Thanks, Neptune..." Hikari said timidly. I really don't think she's seen Neptune like this before.

We then watched as Neptune reverted back to her old self, adding, "Well, now I'm bored again."

"Well, there's still a few quests we need to get done with around here," I offered. "Super Otakus...some more Pixelvaders...though I'm intrigued by how these things are even being made."

Neptune blinked before remembering her comment from earlier. "Like I said, maybe they're..."

I waved my hands in fromt of me frantically. "No!"

"They're what?" IF asked, eyebrows lowered.

"Oh, it's nothing," Compa replied. "Nep-Nep just said something about this place being where they did something called 'the thing'. Ro-Ro didn't want her saying something like that again, though..."

"...I can see why. How old is Nep?"

"No idea, but she was a shooting star before we found her."

"...Shooting...star? Nep?"

"It's a long story, and we'll tell you after we get this done," I replied.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Hikari's POV_

After we finished off what the others had called the Guard Vermin, we proceeded to go deeper into the cave, fighting when needed.

"Hey, Hikari?" Neptune asked me after we finished one particular battle with a few Clydes.

"What is it, Neptune?" I asked carefully.

"If you and Ro-Ro know each other, then do you have animal ears as well?"

"Actually...I do. Mine are...those of a Shiba Inu."

"Shiba Inu?"

Nodding, I showed my features to the others. "Like these."

Neptune looked surprised. "Wowzers! They look rather cute on you! Not like Ro-Ro's..."

"Well, hers is an offspring of Missus Sage's...but she does have a Neuroi core...if Roland-sama's explanation makes sense..."

"Huh? Neuroi? I've heard you use that earlier...Is that like turning into a zombie or a Dogoo or something?"

"Not really...Rosalina had some access to it, but she needs to be using Neuroi Mode to see what I mean."

"What are Nero...Noirei...hmm...New-Roys, anyways?" Compa asked me, apparently making a strange way of pronouncing the words.

"They're...a group of aliens whose origins and species are largely unknown...what I can tell you is that...they are ruthless. We had two Neuroi Wars...back in the days...when my parents were younger. Well, they were...part of the second war. Miyafuji Yoshika and Lynette Bishop."

"They both sound like odd names for a boy and a girl...wait! Are they both...?"

"Yeah. Rosalina's dad could only explain it to me as...my paternal mother being Mama Yoshika...and my maternal mother being Mama Lynne. He never really told me any different since, though...sometimes I wonder if he actually gave the right information."

"So they're both girls...so what? You were born without a father?"

"No idea who my dad is. I was told...that my maternal mother gave birth to me, so..."

"Sounds familiar..." Rosalina replied. She looked as if she was trying to think of something.

"I'm not the only one, though. Lili's father died before she was born. In fact, you two played together a lot, Rosalina."

"Lili?"

"Yeah...Elisabeth Barkhorn. We just called her Lili."

"I see. So were we close?"

"I guess so. Lili's about two years older than you, so you were like her younger sister by comparison."

"Wait, her father's dead?" Compa asked. "Why did Rosalina's dad let you two grow up together?"

"Barkhorn-sama and Roland-sama were allied with the same wing in the second war, the Strike Witches. Barkhorn-sama was also close friends with Minna-sama, so Rosalina's parents both decided to help their friend and teammate out."

"So my father's named Roland?" Rosalina asked me.

"Yep. Roland Sage, Neuroi Witch, and his wife Minna-Dietlinde Sage...maiden name Wilcke and former wing commander of the Five Hundred and First Joint Fighter Wing."

Rosalina looked a bit lost before she shook her head. "This is a bit much to take in."

Soon, we reached a circular dead-end in the cave, which seemed to have been damaged from an earlier scuffle.

"Hey, it's the crater left by that blow as we were escaping!" Neptune said cheerfully.

"So how did you three even get..." I started before I looked up and saw sunlight shining into the area. There was a hole up above, with some trees peeking past the edge. "Oh. Never mind..."

"Hey." Neptune walked over to the crater. "I wonder how hard it must have swung to do this sort of damage."

"A rather lot, Nep," IF added. "So we've found the dead-end. And how you three found this place to begin with." She then sighed. "Well, better go back to the Guild and report this."

I nodded my head. We had been asked to check the cave out (along with some side missions), so we can move on...right?

"What the...?" Rosalina asked quickly as she walked over to something that was shiny. When we came over to look at it ourselves, we saw that it was a purple object. "What's this thing?"

"Not sure," I said. "Does look weird, though..."

"Ooh!" Neptune called out as she grabbed it from a rock. "I'll keep it! It looks important..." She then stopped.

"Hey, there's something behind that one," I added as I reached onto the rock and groped around before pulling out a shiny disc. "What is this?"

"Not sure," IF replied. "Looks like it's something special, though..."

Soon, a flash of light engulfed us, and when we were able to see again we saw that a group of two Clydes, a Ms. Clyde, and a Super Otaku had appeared in the center of the area.

"What the?!" IF said in shock as she readied her katars. We followed suit with readying our respective weapons. "When did they get here?!"

"I dunno!" Rosalina shouted quickly. "Enemies first, mystery second!"

It took us a few minutes to handle the enemies, but once we were done we looked at the disc Rosalina had been holding, which was laying on the ground next to Neptune (who had sat out for this battle).

"Maybe this disc is the one that caused those monsters to appear suddenly..." IF reasoned.

"What if the purple thing was the one that did it?" I asked, looking at Neptune, who was holding the object in question.

Neptune closed her eyes and was quiet for a few seconds before saying, "Nope. This is apparently something different."

"...How do you know?"

"I dunno!"

"...She has no idea..." IF deadpanned. "She could be holding a death trap in her hands, and she doesn't have a clue..."

"She does have a point," Rosalina said as she looked at the disc on the ground. "Those things didn't exactly come until we grabbed that disc over there." She then walked over to the disc and, sheathing her sword, picked it up with both hands. "Hey, Neptune? Care to help me out?"

"Sure," Neptune replied as she walked over to the girl. "Whaddya need?"

"I need you to either punch this thing or break it or something."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I...have no idea how to..."

"Have you tried bending it?" I asked as I slung my rifle onto my back and, walking over to Rosalina, took the disc from her and tried bending it. To little success.

"Maybe I should handle it," Neptune said as she handed the purple object to Rosalina and took the disc from me. She then effortlessly snapped it in half. "Easy-peasy."

We waited a bit to see if we had broken the right cause and, after a few minutes, nothing more spawned around us.

"I guess that disc was connected to the monsters somehow..." IF stated.

"But who left it lying around here?" Compa asked.

"Better question: who would do something like that?"

"I don't know, but we got this cave checked out," Rosalina said as she put the object in her pack. "I better get the N-Gear out and see about checking on the progress of our..."

Suddenly, there was a lot of cackling or something as a voice from out of nowhere said, "At last, I found you, Neptune!"

"Okay, what's with the maniacal laugh?" Neptune asked as we looked around for the owner of the voice.

Suddenly, Rosalina's familiar appeared on her body as a green aura washed over her, the girl stating, "Everyone, jump back now!"

We wasted no time doing that as a spear crashed down where Neptune once stood. When we recovered our footing, we looked at someone who had come with the spear.

She appeared to be a Witch that seemed to have adopted the look of...well, an actual witch. Her outfit seemed to be in one piece, being black with purple stripes along the cuffs and torso areas. Her chest seemed to be exposed a fair bit, straps crossing over her stomach and up to her breasts. She also had detached sleeves with some cloth sticking out like they were thorns. Resting on her head was a witchly hat with a light purple flower and a dark purple flower on the front, with thorns wrapped around the hat. There also seemed to be some feathers sticking out from the flowers, and the tip of the hat leaned over towards the right side of her head. Her skin was so pale I swore she had a light purple skin tone, and her hair seemed to match Neptune's if she had let it get lighter. That was stylized into short hair with a long bang on the right side of her head. There also seemed to be a length of purple thorns circling her neck.

"How predictable," the witch (I'll call her that for now) called out as she pulled out her spear and set it behind her, looking at us. "Aura sensing to avoid an ambush."

"Who is this person?" IF asked. "And how does she know Nep?"

I felt my body tremble a bit, but when I looked at Rosalina, she seemed to be almost terrified.

Compa must have noticed it as well because she asked, "Ro-Ro? You alright?"

"Too much...negative..." Rosalina stuttered. Her familiar's features were still active, so somehow I think she was using her aura sense to see into the witch's aura...and was feeling overwhelmed by it.

"Shut it off, Rosalina!" I shouted to her, panicked.

My friend couldn't hear me as she was busy trembling.

"What's going on, Hikari?" IF asked, alarmed about the situation with Rosalina.

"She's terrified," the witch told us. "Unable to handle a dark aura due to no memories of having learned about them...such a waste of potential."

"You..." IF readied her katars. "You're not helping her!"

"Ro-Ro, snap out of it!" Compa cried out as she tried shaking Rosalina's right shoulder. She only responded by falling onto the ground rear-first, sitting there in stunned fear.

"Any way to get her out of it?" Neptune asked quickly, worry on her face.

"We could try the obvious solution...and remove the problem," I stated.

"That's as good a plan as any," IF called out as she charged at the witch. "Let's see what you've got!"

"Too slow," the witch simply stated as she swung the blunt end of her spear into the brunette's stomach, stopping her movement cold.

"Ugh!"

"I've got it!" Neptune called out as she charged ahead. The witch simply used IF's inaction as ammo, throwing the brunette at the lilac-haired girl. The attack sent her sprawling backwards, landing on the ground back first. IF bounced off and landed about five feet back, laying on her chest.

"Nep-Nep!" Compa called out. "Miss IF!"

"Compa," I said as I readied my sniper rifle. "You go tend to IF and Neptune...I'll handle this witch."

"Right!" The nurse-in-training started running towards her downed teammates before the witch smacked her with the spear (again, the blunt end), sending her onto her knees as she was busy coughing for air. Her syringe was kicked away from her.

"It's just you, little girl," the witch said as she looked at me. "Tell me, what do you hope to accomplish trying to take me on?"

I rested my finger on the trigger well but found myself unable to pull the trigger.

What do I hope to do against her? IF, Neptune, and Compa were easily beaten, and now it was only me and Rosalina. The latter couldn't fight due to the aura weighing her down, and I...

No! I'm not going to back down! My parents fought against tougher enemies, so why should I make this witch any different? I just need to find her weak point and then hit it.

Hmm...the chest? It seems like it's the best spot to hit.

I aimed carefully and, taking a deep breath, fired a shot. I then watched as the bullet managed to hit her...

Only to find that nothing stuck. Well, the shot hit her, but...there was a zero coming out of the impact area, so...

"That's all?" the witch asked as she glared at me.

Gulping, I fired again, getting the same results. I then watched as she raced towards me, spear ready to strike at me. I fired a third round that missed her before I was forced to use the gun to block the spear, holding it back as I felt my strength go into holding that spear at bay. I then felt my feet sliding back, like I was losing this battle of will.

I'm not going to let her get away with hurting my friends...I may barely know them...but...

"Back the hell off!" I shouted as loud as I could as I put all my strength into pushing against the spear, driving it back and bringing the gun's muzzle to her at point blank range. " **Precision Shot!** " I then felt my magic get pumped into the gun and a golden bullet shot out and dug into my opponent, finally causing some damage. This sent her sliding back as she looked at her chest, which had the number "123" floating away from the impact site.

...That's not a good number to be seeing in this situation, is it?

"You actually damaged me," the witch said simply as she raced up to me and swung the blunt end of her spear into the back of my neck. Hard.

I fell to the ground, my brain trying to avoid shutting down. I could barely hold out before my vision started blurring.

"You're not strong enough to beat me yet..." were the last words I heard before I blacked out.

 **XXXXXXXXX**

 **...**

 _..._

 ** _Now let us take a moment to think about what happened so far...and hope that this doesn't go south very quickly._**

 **...Is that supposed to be a reference to anything?**

 _Don't think so, Dilnos..._

 **Right...anyways...that does it for this chapter.**

 _ **Boy, have our heroines found themselves in quite a pickle.**_

 _Lio, this is the Author Notes section, not a story/geography lesson...in this Author Notes section..._

 **Me-sa lost...I mean, I'm lost…**

 _ **...Did...you just go Jar-Jar Binks on us?**_

 **Please don't remind me of my childhood...please…**

 ** _Anyways, the poll is still up, so if you haven't done so please take some time to take a vote. If you want to see a particular character on that list appear. There have been a few results so far, but I will wait until the next update to reveal them._**

 **Anything else to add?**

 _Guess not?_

 **Alright then...anyways, please read and respond and let me know what you think of the story.**

 **Thanks, guys, for reading this chapter. This is Dilnos521…**

 _ **We are Lionelis…**_

 _And this is Ekuro268. We'll see you in the next chapter...and with less 'scary' glares included!_

 **Where we will finish this fight scene!**

 _ **...Wait, are we pulling stunt duty?**_

 _Why the hell not, Lio?_


	7. Neuroi-a-go-go, Ro-Ro!

**Hello, and welcome to the second-to-last chapter of this arc.**

 ** _...Second-to-last?_**

 _Time flies, Lio?_

 **Yes, you two. I am officially calling it for this arc. A "Chapter 0" and seven chapters should be good enough for the first arc, right?**

 _Dunno...I don't do Arcs in my story...Puns not intended..._

 ** _...You have a world with Jaune in it..._**

 **...I think you miss the point, Lio...**

 _Anyways! Lio, don't you have stunt duty to do?_

 ** _Not sure anymore...apparently someone else took it over for us…_**

 **Rosalina:** ...

 **...Lio?**

 _What the hell is she doing here?!_

 ** _Okay, did we mess with the script too much or something?_**

 **Rosalina:** ...This isn't the cave...is it?

 **...Gimme a sec.**

 _Um...no?_

 **Rosalina:** Oh. This really is weird...I swore I was in the cave with Neptune and the others...

 ** _No kidding! Vert, Noire, Blanc...hell, even Neptune we can understand, but her?!_**

 **Oh, right! I think I see it now!**

 _ **See what?**_

 _Did we destroy the time and space continuum?_

 **...Not quite? I think the chapter will explain how she ended up here...well, I'll let the chapter present what occurred to her. Anyways, let's handle some reviews.**

 **Rosalina:** Reviews? It does sound somewhat familiar...

 _kineke13_ **: Ah, Arfoire has indeed entered the stage. "Old hag" might be a bit much, but as you'll see below...well, I won't spoil it too much. Hopefully. As for the other part of your review, that depends on who you refer to as "DLC": if you refer to the characters who were originally DLC for Victory, they will indeed be in the story (given they are part of RB1's plot); if you refer to Plutia, Peashy, and Histoire, the DLC characters for RB1...I think you'll have to wait for that. For the CPU Candidates...that's something else I can't reveal quite yet. If you refer to Nisa, Gust, Red, or 5pb, then in that case...I won't say where they'd be, but they will be integrated into the story. Note, however, that I might not be able to get Nisa and Gust completely right given I haven't played the original first two games. Red and 5pb, however, I can use what I learned about their personality from RB2. Regardless, the wikis and I are going to be the best of friends...hopefully Lio can figure it out himself...**

 ** _We don't wanna..._**

 **Anyways, I'll also count on any readers who want to contribute information or experiences seeing them in action. I have read the manga and still need to watch the anime (for Plutia and Peashy; though I do have RB3, I still want to finish RB2 and get the True ending) as well as find a more complete walkthrough/LP of the first game, so every bit of info I can learn will help. Apart from that, thanks for the review.**

 **And those are the reviews so far. Also, I wanted to make this note: I've had to edit the last chapter due to a mistake I failed to catch during my second look-through, which has been noted in the newer version of said chapter. Suffice to say, I got what I could find at the spur of the moment as well as added a few more things, but I can't gaurantee that I got everything. So in the future, the offer I've made for my other stories still stands: if you guys find a mistake anywhere, give me a heads-up. We do our best to find any mistakes and correct them, but of course we're not perfect. And it could be as simple as not completing a thought or getting familairs wrong.**

 **Though at least I have a sort of test for when I get going on Project LIO: let me know if you think putting a notice like the one for the last chapter would work for editing through my other series as well as this series when I get there.**

 **Anyways, I think we should have you two see what happened to get Rosalina here for some odd reason...**

 _Okay...got any popcorn, guys?_

 _ **We were just about to suggest that.**_

 **...Look around? Conjure some up? Dunno? Anyways, Rosalina, care to explain what you recall?**

 **Rosalina:** Sure? Well, let's see...there was the disc...Neptune breaking it...that lady dropping down...and...

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 6: Neuroi-a-go-go, Ro-Ro!**

 _Compa's POV_

I had barely looked behind me and watched in horror as the woman who had attacked us knocked Hikari unconscious.

I then watched her walk towards us, soon walking past me. I tried standing up, but somehow I looked at my health and saw that it was alternating between zero and one.

She somehow...put me in a state between being able to fight and being KO'd? How?

I could only watch as the woman then walked over to Nep-Nep, who was barely sitting up as she looked at the woman.

"Where's the Key Fragment, Neptune?" the woman asked.

"Key Fragment?" Nep-Nepasked, confused. "You mean, like, a piece of a key?"

"Yes, Neptune. Something like that, but not a normal key."

"Hmm...nope, haven't seen it anywhere."

The woman must have taken a quick step back mentally. "Wait, seriously? How do you not know about the Key Fragment? I watched you girls pick up the blasted thing!"

Nep-Nep gave it some thought before her eyes lit up. "Ooh! You mean the disc thingy I snapped in half."

"What?! No! The purple strange-looking object! The disc was something completely different!"

"Purple object? Oh, you mean the thing I gave to someone?"

"Yes! Wait, you gave it to someone?"

"Yepperoni."

"Who?"

"Um...I can't seem to remember. You know, heat of the battle and all..."

The woman nearly dropped to the ground. "What? You don't remember who you gave the damned Key Fragment to? You had to have given it up a few minutes ago!"

"I think I gave it to Compa or Iffy (IF took some time to groan out something about not calling her by that nickname) a while back, but then again I'm sure you could have sensed that, couldn't you?"

"No, I can't, Neptune. What do you take me for, a radar?"

"Well, you _were_ watching us a few minutes ago, so why can't you know who has it?"

"Because I was sure you'd still be keeping it safe!" The woman then sighed. "Well, there goes finding the Key Fragment, but then again...you're not off my list yet..." She then took a step towards Nep-Nep, the girl backing up slowly. The woman was giving off a dark purple aura. "Now, I may not have the item I came to find, but I can at least take your powers for my own. Now, be a good little girl and..." The woman threw her spear as Nep-Nep turned onto her knees to try crawling faster, and the hood of the crawler's outfit was sniped by the spear, burying it into the ground a bit and making Nep-Nep unable to move without losing her clothes. "...stay still so I can get this done!"

She took another step before a round flew into her back from somewhere, causing no damage but catching her attention.

"Hmm?" the woman asked as she turned to look at...

Rosalina pointing her blaster at her?

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

The dark aura coming off the woman who had appeared out of nowhere was overwhelming my senses, and I was somehow unable to fight it off. I was forced to sit down in fear as Hikari tried taking her on and, despite being able to shove her back and dealing a small amount of damage to her, was knocked unconscious. I then watched as she walked past Compa, and somehow my mind went blank for a bit.

 _I'm so scared...who am I?_

Huh? Who's that talking?

 _Where am I from? What's my purpose?_

I shut my eyes and tried getting the voices in my head to shut up but somehow they only got louder.

 _Neptune deserved her fate...You never knew Hikari...Everyone's doomed..._

" _Hey, Rosalina!_ " a familiar voice called out. " _Front and center, young lady!_ "

"Huh?" I asked as I opened my eyes and saw... a grassy plain?

...This...isn't the cave I was just in a few seconds ago...

"Where am I?" I asked this time.

" _You're in my plain, what else?_ " the voice asked as someone materialized in front of me. It was a man wearing a green vest over a white T-shirt, black cargo pants, and black trainers. On his left wrist was a sort of watch, and a black bracelet rested on his right wrist. His black hair was a little long, almost touching his eyebrows, and his eyes...

One of them was brown, but I could barely see that the other was a dark red.

"Plain?" I tried.

" _Sorry, 'plane',_ " the man clarified. " _Anyways, you're here, and that's all that really matters._ "

"Oh...kay..." Do I want to be arguing with a man who seems to know what this place is? He might be able to answer some questions I currently have.

" _Anyways, what's up with you, young lady? This can't really be the legacy I had in mind..._ "

I blinked. "Wait, your legacy?"

" _Yeah. Welcome to the Sage Family Plane. Population: two plus some familiars. Well, three sometimes when your mother arrives here. Still haven't figured out how..._ "

"So...you're my father?"

" _What, don't recognize your old man?_ " the man then reconsidered his words. " _Then again...I do seem like I'm the age I was when your mother and I first became a couple, huh? Well...Kuji did explain a bit of this sort of thing to me, so...let's see, how did he explain it?_ "

"Explain what?"

" _I'm your father but...at the same time, I'm not. Think of me as like a figment of your imagination. You can see me and can interact with me, but beyond this plane your friends don't know about me. Well, hopefully they won't, but then again I'm kinda new to the whole speaking-through-planes thing myself. Anyways, the main thing is that any experiences I get can be transferred when my physical body goes to sleep, but you have to be asleep at the same time._ "

"...Huh?"

" _Yeah, it takes a bit to understand. But hey, at least time's stopped for the moment...I think._ "

He thinks? "My friends are in danger, and you _think_ time's stopped for us here?" If my friends die because he's unable to figure out how to do that sort of thing, I'm going to beat him to death with my sword. Even if he's my dad.

" _I heard that, missy,_ " said man replied with a smirk on his face, " _and I've never really had to stop and explain to my daughter about powers she can't remember before, so I do apologize._ "

I stared at him. "What, you're a mind-reader too?"

" _Not really, but Lio deals with the fourth wall business more than I do, so some of it rubbed off. Anyways, that's what I wanted to talk to you about...why aren't you fighting back?_ "

"Because there's a dark aura immobilizing me right now."

" _...That's it? Really?_ " He then sighed. " _Look, Rosalina...you're a Sage. Our motto is 'Age Quod Agis', which translates to..._ "

"...'Do What You Do'?"

" _Yeah. Very roughly, mind you. So, do what you do to protect your friends._ "

"And...how am I supposed to do that? Also, what about you?"

" _Well, when you make a promise to protect every Witch you can, you tend to just fight the impossible. 'Course, I also protected those who needed protecting as well, so there's that._ "

...Somehow, he made more sense.

" _Besides, you could just hit...whoever she is..._ "

Do I really want to hit a woman who's practically KO'd four of my friends? Well, Hikari was the only one who was truly KO'd, but the others weren't able to fight at the moment...

"Can I even do it?" I asked. "Take her on, I mean."

" _Trust me,_ " my father said. " _You'll never have it as hard as playing the Impossible Game or fighting the Neuroi by yourself. Just focus and don't lose yourself. Also, don't die._ "

"...That's good to know..." I then watched as the plain plane disappeared from my sight and brought me back to the fight at hand, and I think some time had passed by. Not sure how much, but the Witch-like person was advancing towards Neptune.

Now, how do I actually fight her? I can still feel the dark aura, but...somehow, I think I can push past that.

I couldn't just go in swinging due to being unable to reach the woman before she did...whatever she was planning to Neptune or something.

I then looked at the blaster in my left hand. Maybe if I fire off a round that could get her attention...

Standing back up and raising the gun to a shooting position, I felt a red aura wash over me before I fired off a round, which simply acted like a crumpled piece of paper as far as damage was concerned. This did get the woman to stop her advance on Neptune and turn to look at me.

"You?" she asked. "I would have thought the aura would have kept you locked in place, but no matter..." She then seemed to summon a second spear. "You think you can do better than four twerps?"

Well...this was a bad career move on my part...

Without warning, the woman raced towards me, ready to kill me or something. I only braced myself as the spear charged towards me, my sword catching it barely and making it slide harmlessly past my right side. With my blaster, I fired a few rounds into her at point blank range quickly before I slashed at her as hard as I could. This forced her back as I prepared for another attack, soon hearing her laugh.

"What's this?" the woman asked. "A girl who's able to sense aura...I wouldn't have pegged you for a fighter."

 _Don't amuse her,_ I told myself. _I can't afford to lose myself in her words..._

She noted a lack of responses from me, sighing. "Trying to be the silent type...well, I hope you don't scream and break that illusion!" She then charged at me again, making me send the spear's head to the side once more as I brought the blaster onto her head. She moved said head to the right as I fired twice, making me miss those shots. She sent the blunt end of her weapon towards my stomach, and I had to block it with the blaster. However, the attack knocked it out of my hand, sending it flying away from me. I blocked a second swing with my sword but was unable to keep my grip on it. I then watched as the point of the spear flew towards my stomach.

I have to stop it somehow...wait, the barrier!

I hastily raised my barrier up to block the attack but for some reason felt it starting to strain from holding the point back.

No, no, no...please stay up...I can't be stabbed right now! I mean, really: if the blunt end of a spear can send my friends down without a problem, then just imagine what the actual dangerous end could-

I soon heard and felt my barrier break from the pressure, and this sent me stumbling back. By the time I regained my footing, the woman managed to get her spear to actually enter my stomach.

 _No..._ I could only think as I stopped and gave off a pained gasp. _I can't die like this..._

I could feel the woman twist the spear a bit before she pulled it out, and I found myself falling onto my knees before falling onto my left side, my vision fading slowly.

Is this how it ends? A blow that pretty much one-shot me...literally?

 _Come on, get up, Rosalina!_ I cried out mentally. _You can't die yet! You still have your memories to get back! You've got friends who need you! You can't just go dying on them! Now get the hell up!_ I still felt my vision fading. _Get up and fight! Please!_

 ** _Do you wish to fight still?_** a voice asked.

...Huh? Where did that voice in my head come from?

 ** _Do you wish to fight still?_** the voice repeated.

My vision was almost all black, and out of a sort of panic I replied with, _Yes!_

 ** _Know that it is uncertain what will happen should this power be awakened inside you._**

Power? What power?

 ** _You aren't the daughter of the Neuroi Witch for nothing. The powers of the core, tailored for this world...but you're currently unfit to wield it fully. It is uncertain if you will even survive the awakening or if you'd convert into one of them. Do you still wish to use it to save your friends?_**

If I did wield that sort of power then I'd be able to beat that woman back...but at the same time if it's dangerous just to receive it...

But...what choice do I have?

 _Yes..._ I said uncertainly.

 ** _You sound uncertain, child._** Now that I think about it, it sounds a lot like a woman's voice. **_This power is not a mere toy. If you choose to wield it, it is with the belief that you're ready to sacrifice everything if need be._**

I then had a brief image of some huge monster looming over me. It looked strange, but...I could feel a lot of fear coming out of its body...

I can't fight that thing...but if I don't accept this power that's being offered, then I never will...

 _Okay,_ I said with a determined thought. _I accept the powers you're offering._

 ** _Alright. Remember your convictions. They will help you keep your goals clear. And your resolve strong._**

I then felt the red glow from before...but this time something felt odd...like I was getting stronger or something. I could also feel some memories start flowing back into my head.

 **You Ready For This?**

I'm ready...for this...whatever happens...I won't let them die!

 **Program Execution.**

Soon, my blackness became white...

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Compa's POV_

It took everything I had to avoid crying out in fear as I watched Rosalina fall to the ground, gravely wounded.

"Ro-Ro!" I heard Nep-Nep call out. When I looked at my pinned friend, she was glowing with a rainbow aura for some reason.

"Well, that wasn't as memorable as I'd liked it to be," the woman simply said as she stared at Rosalina's limp body. "At least she can die knowing that she's unable to help her friends."

Nep-Nep seemed to have chosen now to transform, and I watched as she got onto her feet and, with a flap of her wings, charged at the woman, sword ready to strike at her. Her opponent simply blocked the attack and held it there.

"At last you're fighting me at your full power," the woman told her. "Well, at the moment."

"You killed Rosalina," Nep-Nep said, her new voice seeping with hate. "You've hurt my friends. I'm not letting you go that easily."

"I guess I can say the same for you. I need you still, so I won't kill you...yet." The woman broke the lock by sliding Nep-Nep's sword down to the ground and, while the transformed fighter was resetting herself to strike, ran behind her and got into a ready position. She then swung the pointy end at Nep-Nep's back, scoring a hit as the girl floated ahead a bit, feeling her back for any wounds. I then watched as red lines started appearing along her right arm. "However, that doesn't mean that I can't make you bleed a bit before I do." She then swung her spear again horizontally, making Nep-Nep float back and block it with her sword.

"You have to hit me first, you know." Nep-Nep charged forward and slashed ahead of her, the woman blocking it before sticking her left hand out in front of her, a ball of red energy appearing in front of it.

"Have a little taste of this, Neptune! **Neuroi Burst!** " She fired the energy at point-blank range, the only thing defending Nep-Nep from the brunt of the attack was a hastily-placed block, and even that didn't really seem to defend her too much as she was sent back a bit, flipping herself off her back in a bacflip of sorts as she slid onto her feet. She then charged past Nep-Nep and swung her spear at our friend's back.

Nep-Nep spun around and blocked the attack quickly before I noticed a sudden chill in my spine. This stopped the duel for a bit as both combatants took in the feeling.

"What's...going on?" I heard IF ask with a groan in her voice.

"Miss IF!" I shouted as I gathered enough strength to get up and rush over to the brunette's side. "Are you okay? I can heal that!"

"Compa...?" IF looked up at me. "What's with...the sudden chill...?"

"The chill?" Oh right, the feeling.

"What is that child...?" the woman asked in surprise as I turned to look at Rosalina, who was standing onto her feet, a red glow around her as her wound was healing itself. "She's...back on her feet?"

"Rosalina?" Nep-Nep asked quickly.

Rosalina had her eyes closed and seemed to have ignored any comments towards her before she disappeared in a flash of red. When she reappeared, she seemed to be wearing some new gear on her body. She seemed to be wearing a two-piece bikini-like body suit, its colors being black with red outlines. Her arms were covered by some gloves that reached up to halfway between her shoulders and elbows, and she seemed to have some pieces to make some nails over her fingertips. She had nothing covering her legs, which seemed to be the same as when I had first met her. She had some boots going up to her knees with nothing to raise the heels, and over her forearms were some armored pieces that seemed to house weapons of some kind. Floating over her shoulders were some back curved pieces with a redder tinge to them, though they matched the color scheme. Hovering by her hips were some red orbs, and for wings she had red blocky ones being produced by a red orb on her back. Next to her feet were some weird red circles, like her defenses from before. Resting on her head was a strange device that seemed to remind me of a headset on the sides, with a red transparent visor extended over her eyes. Her hair also changed, like Nep-Nep's; she had it flowing out in a dark red cascade, but there was a weird little dice-like hairclip in there, near the top of the left side of her head. I even swore that it was glowing a bit. There were also red lines along the length of her gloves and boots as well as a sort of hexagonal pattern on her suit.

"What...?" the woman asked, stunned.

"So you're the one who tried killing her?" Rosalina said, a different voice evident. It sounded like she was in control of the situation and felt that you weren't worth her time. I think. "How cute..."

"You...how did you...?"

"Well, when you're the daughter of a man who's busted his ass off protecting all he held dear, you tend to pick up some of his habits. Determination, fear..." Rosalina flicked her left wrist and made some sort of double-barreled structure form on top of the corresponding armored piece. "A Neuroi core that's now awakened. That's not all, though..." She then flicked her right wrist and made a red blade of energy slide out until it was about two feet in length. "I've also got a bit of my own traits in there, but that's not really important right now. Right now..." Rosalina pointed her blade at the woman. "You're in my way."

"Way? You're in _my_ way, you little bitch. Don't forget that I was the one who injured you!"

"Injured me? Please, the way you're going you can't even beat a girl who's still new to her transformed state into submission."

The woman growled. "For some reason, I think I preferred you when you were bleeding on the ground there."

"Oh really?" Rosalina entered a combat stance similar to her usual stance, the only difference being that she had her arms in a position that made me think of boxing. "Let's see if you can do it again. After all...I don't allow mulligans."

With a scream, the woman ran up to Rosalina, her spear ready to impale her again. The newly-changed girl, however, had different plans as she sidestepped the resulting stab by going to the right and pointing the barrels of her left arm at the woman's face.

"I said I don't allow mulligans," she simply said as she fired a pair of shots that exploded into energy once they slammed into her opponent's face. This made her fly back a bit from the force, but she caught her footing. "Now, try that again. And this time, actually hit me."

"Die, you little bitch!" the woman shouted as, with a red glow added to it, she threw the spear at Rosalina.

The girl sighed and said in a bored tone, "Flying spears? I've seen better." She then shot a round into it, deflecting it and making it spin into the air before it landed next to the woman's right side.

"You-"

Rosalina waved her left hand in the air, as if dismissing the comment. "Bitch. Jeez, you're really sounding like a broken record." Rosalina sighed again as she set her right hand on her hip and adopted a pose fit for her current demeanor, smirk included. "Next thing I suppose, you're going to grab that spear, call out something about not missing this time, and-" She then noticed that the woman was gone, and she looked a little surprised. "Oh. Well...that's really good and all...but..." She effortlessly raised her right arm behind her and blocked a swing from the spear of the woman using her blade. "...you really ought to consider that I can read your aura. Sneak attacks..." She then wheeled around quickly, pointed the gun barrels into her opponent's chest, and fired off a pair of shots that sent her flying. "...won't work on me. Now, let's see here..." She then glowed red a bit. " **Ryūsei Slash!** "

I then watched as she made her wings flap, sending her flying towards the woman, who was busy recovering from the inflicted attack. With a simple uppercut with her left fist, Rosalina sent the woman into the air before she gave a second flap that propelled her into the air. With a lot of grace (and a bunch of slashes), Rosalina struck at her opponent a lot before she punched down with her right fist like a hammer, sending the woman careening into the ground quickly.

As I watched my friend land on the ground softly, I took a quick look at her status and saw that it seemed to take as much energy as "Rush Combo". Are they interchangeable based on her current form?

"What...kind of power was that?" the woman asked as she was coughing and recovering from being sent into the ground from midair. Her red lines had disappeared.

"That's the tip of the iceberg for what a Neuroi core allows us to do," Rosalina told her. "I can try showing you a lot more dangerous things if you give me a chance."

The woman got onto her feet and steadied herself using the spear. "Ugh...I was only hoping to worry about one goddess...not a second girl who's somehow similar to one..." She then sighed. "So...what's your name, girl?"

"That's a bit of an improvement. I suppose that I can at least tell you as I have a distinct feeling that we're going to cross paths again. The girl you nearly killed here is Rosalina, daughter of the Neuroi Witch and one of the top seven aces. Don't you ever forget that."

"I doubt I can at the moment...so until next time, Rosalina..." She then disappeared in a flash of light, leaving us all there.

I watched as Rosalina looked at me, and it was then that I could see that her eyes were glowing red. "Compa, are you and IF alright?"

"Uh, yeah," I told her. "Well, I am at least."

"I'm feeling a lot better..." IF replied as she got onto her knees. "Just had to catch my breath."

"What about Hikari and Neptune?" Rosalina asked.

"I'm fine, Rosalina," Nep-Nep replied, still in her transformed state. "Hikari seems to have no cuts, but she's out cold."

"I see. Please make sure she's alright." She then looked around. "And before we leave, one of us should grab that spear. Maybe we can sell it for some cash." She then blinked as, when I looked at the spear that had been stuck in the ground, said object disappeared in a quick flash of white light. "...What?"

"Don't worry about it too much, Ro-Ro," I offered.

"Good thinking. Anyways, I'm going to get some rest. Neptune, you should do the same."

"Sounds good for all of us," IF replied, "But what about you? You were injured..."

"Could you at least hold the form until we get back to Compa's house?" Nep-Nep tried asking. "That way, she can take a look at Rosalina and make sure her injuries healed correctly."

Rosalina sighed. "I guess I can do that. My other self needs time to rest as well."

"Wait, your other self?"

"I don't know how to describe it, but it's like I can sense her in my mind. I am her Neuroi core, personified to a degree."

"Oh...Anyways, we better get back," I added. "Hikari's not going to get much rest in here."

"Right. We better get a move on."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **...Welp, at least all's well that ends well?**

 _[Eating popcorn] Mmhmm..._

 **Rosalina:** ...That's what happened?

 ** _We guess so..._**

 **Rosalina:** ...Hang on a second, where did...whoever he is get that?

 _Hmm? Dilnos here told me to "conjure some up", so I did..._

 _ **We do this sort of thing a lot.**_

 **Rosalina:** ...Sounds like you and Neptune should meet.

 ** _*snicker*_**

 **Rosalina:** What's so funny?

 _He's snickering because they met her already...not me yet though...officially that is..._

 **Rosalina:** Oh. Um...not sure how I should respond to that...

 **Hey, since you're here anyways, why not close this one out with us? Who knows, you might come here more often.**

 **Rosalina:** I guess...though you make it sound like I'll be making return visits here regularly.

 _ **Maybe we can teach you a few things your father didn't quite get to explain.**_

 _Whatever it is Lio, it better not be perverted..._

 **Rosalina:** ...Do I wanna know?

 **Just know that you're a lucky girl to have your mother and father be who they are...even if one isn't the perfect definition of "normal".**

 _You talking about "normal" makes me think you're crazy...just saying..._

 _ **We've got characters visiting us here...ourselves included...we think he's already hit that point.**_

 **Anyways, moving on: good news, everyone!**

 ** _...Sorry, are we calling a meeting for Planet Express?_**

 **...**

 **Rosalina:** ...

 _Okay then...moving on?_

 **Right, some time before the update, I took a look at the poll and learned a few things: we have some officially-selected characters from the poll. Lio?**

 _ **We have the heroine of Gamindustri: Nisa!**_

 **Rosalina:** ...Who?

 _ **The young alchemist with an eye for money: Gust!**_

 **Rosalina:** ...Okay, should I know those names?

 _ **And finally, the idol sensation from Leanbox, 5pb!**_

 _Isn't this considered "spoilers" Lio?_

 **Not quite. Spoiling it would be saying how they're going into the story.**

 **Rosalina:** ...

 _ **This might be on the test.**_

 **Rosalina:** Wait, test?!

 _Okay, moving on! Again!_

 **Also, there are a few references I've made in here. If you can find one, you'll win the grand prize of a thousand points!**

 _ **...You know we don't have a thousand points to be giving out, right?**_

 **You also recall that the points just don't matter, right?**

 _ **Fair point.**_

 **Anyways, before Rosalina goes back to the story, let's close this out.**

 **Please read, respond, and let me know what you think of this chapter. And if you want Red in the story as well, please check out the poll I have up currently. Also, since the others' goals have been met, let's add a bit of a twist: if someone reaches five votes, then something special will happen.**

 **Anyways, this is Dilnos521...**

 **Rosalina:** ...I'm Rosalina Sage...I'm lost here...

 _ **We're Lionelis…**_

 _And this is Ekuro268, signing o- HEY! I thought it was Rosalina closing this out!?_

 **Rosalina:** ...I am?

 **True, we did say she would close it. Just say whatever comes naturally, Rosalina.**

 **Rosalina:** Okay...um...thanks for watching? *ahem* Sorry, think I've got it now. Thanks for watching/reading...

 _Bit too complicated Rosalina..._

 **Rosalina:** Sorry. Trying to figure this out...never did this sort of thing before...anyways, thanks so much for doing whatever you guys did, and I hope you enjoy what you see. We'll see you later.

 _And with less scary Rosalina as well!_


	8. Histoire's Warning

**Alright!**

 _ **...What are you doing, sir?**_

 _Him saying "Alright!"?_

 **Sorry. A Youtuber was saying something about it as a joke. At least, I'm pretty positive it's a joke. Anyways, welcome to the final chapter for this arc. Now, let's see...alright, Rosalina got...stabbed, I guess. But she is alright...but then there's the whole deal with Arfoire...**

 _More like 'shanked' by that "old hag"._

 **…**

 _ **Someone else already referred to her as "old hag" last chapter. Then again, we think you two and others are in agreement.**_

 **...I will never understand the Internet…**

 _ **Which one, the real one or the one that's still stuck on you?**_

 **...Both?**

 _Why not have both? Cue mexican music!_

 **…**

 _ **We need to install that for the reference/joke to work...**_

 **Also, I am trying to work on the next chapter for my other series, but...well, there is a reason at the moment, but I'll show you in about a week or two, if I'm lucky.**

 **Anyways...let's see here...first, the reviews:**

 _kineke13_ **: Yeah, there is a second side to Rosalina, which is a difference between her and her father given he still retains his looks while having extras while she becomes a different person. As for the core itself, well...there is a sort of symbiotic relationship between Rosalina, the core, and the gray wolf as her familiar. However, I can't reveal much more right now on whether it's an "offspring" of Lionelis or a piece of Lionelis "himself". I will say this much, however, Rosalina's transformed state is going to be based off a particular character from a series that is not either of the series I have stories for so far. I will reveal more as time goes on, but for now...thanks for the review and I hope you continue to enjoy this.**

 **And now, to add this in: I've got a special surprise in store for you ladies and gents. You'll have to wait until the end of the chapter, but let's see what you guys think of it.**

 **So without further ado...actually, anything you wanna say to the readers?**

 _ **Help us...**_

 **...Ha, ha...**

 _ **Yeah, doesn't quite work when we're doing this voluntarily...**_

 _Volunteering? Lio, you got yourself into this, he's your creator for gods sakes! And I have to deal with Kiri- Gah! Get off of m-_

 _ **[The Anti-Spoiler Squadron (don't call us A.S.S., for whatever deity you praise, please!) would like to cut this off for both the safety of the authors' ideas and for avoiding leaking vital information prematurely. Also, there's a reference to a commercial above (you know the drill, we think). Now, we will begin the chapter to complete this arc, so please bear with us…]**_

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 7: Histoire's Warning**

 _Rosalina's POV_

Waking up the next morning, I was greeted with a lot of pain.

Specifically in my forehead and around my stomach.

"Ow..." I groaned as I stared at the ceiling of Compa's place, squinting in slight pain. "What happened yesterday?"

"You got spearheaded," Neptune's voice offered.

"That was a horrible way of telling her that," IF's voice reprimanded.

"...What? It's totally legit! The whole spear didn't just go through her body, you know?"

"So...that might explain my stomach pain," I said. "Now...about my forehead..."

"Sounds like a headache," Compa's voice added. "You were in a transformed state for a while. Maybe that's what caused it?"

"...Transformed state?" My memories are a little foggy concerning yesterday at the moment...

"Yeah!" Neptune included quickly. "You went all serious and stuff!"

"...I'm lost." The last thing I remembered was the spear going through my stomach...and then my mind went blank.

"Well, I did ask your other self if I could take a picture of it to show you and Hikari, which was when we got back to Compa's place yesterday" IF said as I heard footsteps and saw the brunette standing over me. Should I be glad she's not wearing a skirt (only because I'm surrounded by people who wear them, myself included)? "Hikari's already seen it, but..." She fished out a pink phone that seemed to flip open and closed and, hitting a few buttons, soon showed me its screen.

The picture I saw reminded me of Neptune's transformed state, only with some differing bits, like the hair flowing out and being dark red. Taking a really close look at it, I saw that the being's eyes were glowing red, like she was using night vision, and had some weird dice-like form in her eyes, like Neptune's circle-and-vertical-line designs in her HDD form's eyes. And the fact that my breasts seemed to be bigger than they usually were... "Is it just me, or did they just...?"

I think If knew what the rest of my question was going to be. "No idea, but if so you and Nep have something in common."

"Anyways, you'd best get some breakfast in you," Hikari added. "I'm making some nattō beans like my mom does."

"Miss Miyafuji?" How do I remember...right...I got some memories back... "Oh right, one of your parents."

"Yep. I can't believe you still remember that."

"Yeah. I think I can remember some things. Can you test me really quick?"

"Um...sure? Let's see...when's your birthday?"

"May Seventeenth."

"Okay. Father's birthday?"

"Four days after mine, the twenty-first."

"Good. Members of the Strike Witches back in Romagna?"

"By last name, my mom when her last name was Wilcke, my father, Miyafuji, Bishop, Barkhorn, Hartmann, Sakamoto, Dracon, Yeager, Lucchini, Clostermann, Juutilainen, and Litvyak."

"Alright. What's the name of Missus Renaudat's son?"

"Erm..." I froze up slightly. "Who?" I don't think that came back to my memories yet.

"Just asking. Mister Dracon's son?"

"No clue." Another one? How much more do I need to get back?

"...Miss Barkhorn's daughter?"

"Erm...you said her name was Elisabeth, right?"

"Yeah." Hikari then sighed. "It looks like you've got a portion of them back but...I'm worried about you not having some of them. I think you retained Lili's name because I told you about her a bit. If you don't have some memories of her yourself."

"Well...I do remember playing with her since I was five or something, so...I think I do have her in my mind." I then sat up and noticed that the others were in the kitchen, eating some pancakes. The nattō beans seemed to be taking a little while or were just a side dish.

"Take it easy, alright?" IF warned me. "You did just essentially tank a spear to the stomach. No need to make yourself fall down again."

"Right..." I replied as I got onto my feet slowly. I couldn't feel my weapons on my back or my hips for some reason.

"Anyways, you better get something to eat, Ro-Ro," Compa added from the kitchen.

"Sure thing." I felt my stomach growl. Man, I must have skipped out on a few meals while I was out...or that's what it feels like to expend a lot of energy...

XXXXXXXXXX

After breakfast, I was able to be checked on by Compa as Hikari worked on dishes. IF and Neptune were watching as the nurse-in-training checked on my body.

"You don't have any scars on your stomach," Compa noted as she was looking at said area of my body. "That's a bit strange..."

"Is that normal?" I asked as Compa covered my stomach up and moved on to my bandage.

"Can't be sure, Ro-Ro. If you were from Planeptune or anywhere on Gamindustri originally that would be a pretty good question to answer, but..." She undid the bandage and, lifting my skirt up a bit, studied my leg carefully. "Since we don't have magic users like your world's, I can't be certain."

"Still, if you can handle a spear to the stomach for injuries then there's not much problems you need to worry about," IF added. "Just have to figure out if Nep has anything we need to know..." the brunette looked at the lilac-haired amnesiac.

"What?" said girl asked. "I don't do regeneration, Iffy. You know that as well as we do; that mark from that Gothic lady didn't exactly leave me pain-free once I powered down."

"Fair point. Though you didn't get cut by her, thankfully."

"Well, Neuroi have been known to recover lost armor," Hikari said from the kitchen. "Maybe being a second-generation human Neuroi..." There was a pause. "Sorry. I forgot that your dad didn't want me referring to you guys as such even if it's the truth..."

"Human Neuroi?" Compa asked as she laid the skirt back the way she had found it. "Is that what Ro-Ro's considered?"

I sighed. I think my memories cover that part...let's see, how was it explained to me?

"A human Neuroi was a term coined to refer to humans who had become a host for a Neuroi core that fused with them," I explained. "It was used by the Neuroi to describe my father, and some time later some people took it up. He's been adamant about not being called that."

"Interesting," IF replied. "Never thought one person would be put off about being called something that's true..."

"Why? He doesn't really complain about his moniker. Besides, it was my mom who gave him the name 'Neuroi Witch', so he chose to take that mantle instead."

"Still, it's hard to say that someone had to be host to...whatever a Neuroi is. We haven't got any experiences fighting them, so..."

There were a few seconds of silence before it was broken by the lilac-haired amnesiac.

"Alright!" Neptune decided to say. "I say that we look for a way for Hikari and Ro-Ro to get back home! And kick that woman's butt to wherever we should send her!"

"Well...that sounds good and all, but we don't even know who she is," IF included.

"We do know that she's interested in Nep-Nep and seems to have taken some interest in Ro-Ro now," Compa replied. "At least, Ro-Ro's other self."

"I think if this Histy person could speak to us-" I started.

"Neptune!" an unfamiliar voice said in the air. "Are you and the others alright?"

...Is there a voice without a body talking? Wait, why am I asking that? I've got that voice in my head to worry about!

"Yep!" Neptune confirmed. "What took ya so long, Histy?"

"I'm sorry, Neptune," the voice, which I can identify by the name "Histy", apologized. "I was hoping to talk to you five when Rosalina woke up."

"Wait...how do you know me?" I asked.

"Well, I am the world's everything," "Histy" replied. "I don't have much time at the moment, so I felt that I was best able to reply now. How do you feel, Rosalina?"

"Fine so far. Apart from transforming and things like that, I'm okay."

"Good. I have to admit, I have no record of you or what you and Hikari refer to as 'Witches' or 'Neuroi'...though I fear that the latter may be starting to come in."

"Wait, Neuroi are invading?" Hikari, coming out of the kitchen, asked. She seemed to look confused. "Also, who are you, Miss Heavenly Voice?"

"I am Histoire. I'm currently being held captive and can only be freed with the Key Fragments."

"Key Fragments?" Neptune asked. "Like what we found in the cave?"

"Precisely. Each landmass has a Key Fragment needed to free me. You must gather the rest of the goddesses' aid in order to find them all and stop what's going to happen."

"Goddesses?" Hikari and I asked at once. Okay...should we be worried?

"So we need to find the Key Fragments in order to rescue you?" Hikari added.

"Yes, Hikari," Histoire replied.

"I dunno..." Neptune said uncertainly. "I know that I've got to fetch these Key Fragments, but what's in it for me?"

"You can't seriously be wondering about a reward right now, are you?" I asked in disbelief.

"Hey, I'm just asking! I want to help out, I really do, but..."

"You're not sure what will happen?" To Histoire...well, the ceiling, I added, "Is there a reason why we should focus on the Key Fragments?"

"Well...I can't be certain of it, but you might be able to stop the Neuroi infestation from hitting Gamindustri hard," Histoire replied. "Plus, I might be able to get you home."

"What about the current monster infestation?"

"Well, saving me will equal saving the world, but while it will weaken the monsters I can't promise that they will disappear completely."

"Then we'll help you, Histy!" Neptune announced.

"You will?" Histoire asked.

"Yep! Ro-Ro, Iffy, Compa, Hikari, and yours truly will make sure you're rescued!"

"Thanks...Oh dear..." I started hearing a sort of static sound fill the air. "Don't have...but watch...Arfoire...take...Rosalina's..."

And with that, Histoire's voice disappeared.

"So what now?" I asked carefully. We have our main objective, but...how do we go about it?

"Histoire said the Key Fragments were on each landmass," IF reasoned. "If we already found Planeptune's, then logically we need to head to another landmass. Lastation is the closest landmass and, in a few days, will be close enough for us to travel there...but we're going to need some permits."

"Permits for what?"

"In order to travel between landmasses, you need a permit from the Basilicom to cross via the Sky Bridge."

"Sky Bridge? Basilicom?" I feel like Compa's talked about that last part before...

"I'll take you there."

XXXXXXXXXX

...And apparently, before we went on to the Basilicom, IF had asked about repeating the quests in Virtua Forest a second time to get some more cash and experience, and once we did that we decided to take some time to get a bite to eat before heading to the Basilicom, which eventually reached where we started this story so far.

"Everything makes more sense," IF only said. "But I still don't know a lot about the Neuroi even after seeing what Rosalina did back there. Or what that lady did back in the cave."

"Yeah..." Hikari added. "That was a bit strange even for me. For Roland-sama, his eyes glowed red and his Striker Unit reacted and changed to fit his activated powers. Rosalina's just...changed her entire appearance."

"Maybe it's a difference between worlds?"

"Possible," I said quickly. "My father did say he was an inter-dimensional traveler. An accidental one who got dragged into the world where he met my mother."

"What do you mean, Iffy?" Compa asked.

"Not you too..." IF only moaned before sighing. "Okay, each world has a particular set of traits, right? Ours have the goddesses and the Shares system in addition to a high level of technology. Theirs have the Neuroi, the Striker Unit, lower technological value, and a different history from ours. The only thing we share in common is the usage of magic, but..."

"Ours is rarer, usually passed down to girls, and generally only entails a few special abilities per Witch," Hikari added. "Yours, while about the same, can be practiced by anyone and can go beyond simply casting a bolt of lightning only."

"So overall, it would make sense that whatever Rosalina's got managed to reflect that fact and changed accordingly."

"Still..." I looked at Hikari, who started getting a bit of a glint in her eyes. "Was it just me, or did Rosalina's boobs get a little bigger when she changed?"

Hmm...is there something I need to be worried about?

"I couldn't really tell from the picture," Neptune admitted. "Then again, I was transformed when I saw, so...I think I can agree with you, Hikari."

"I don't think that's important..." Compa said, a bit embarrassed. Hmm...maybe having more less-endowed girls than well-endowed girls has an effect?

"How does chest sizes figure into the conversation anyways?" I asked. One of my parents' friends had a big...erm, rack, so...

"It doesn't," IF said, sounding a bit miffed.

"Anyways, moving on. Histoire was trying to say something before she lost connection with us. Any ideas?"

"Hmm..." Everyone else said as they gave it some thought.

"Arfoire's gotta be that woman's name," Hikari was the first to say. "Any connections to anything, Rosalina?"

"...Nothing?" I asked. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, I was thinking that you could ask your core about it. If you can communicate with it."

"...Once I figure out how to do that again, I'll let you know."

"She's also got something planned," IF added, "and she needs Nep for it."

"Taking my powers?" Neptune reasoned.

"Possible. But why? What's her ultimate goal?"

"We should probably wait a while before we try answering that one," I replied. "If we assume that she's wanting it for an evil plan, then we might end up giving her what she wants. Besides, she can't be that predictable, can she?"

"So we're just going to ignore it?"

"No..." I hesitated a bit. "...but I also don't want to get anyone else involved unless we need to..." How far would we need to go in order to stop this...Arfoire? And this is assuming it is her we're going up against...

"We'll need to get the other goddesses involved, but that's not going to be easy."

"Why's that?" Hikari asked.

"Each landmass competes for Shares. It's natural that the leaders of said landmasses wouldn't want each other encroaching on their turf."

"But...isn't that based on the people living on each landmass?"

"It's going to take a long time to explain it in complete detail, so let's just agree that we won't necessarily have the goddesses just hopping on board instantly."

"...Okay."

"Anyways, Histoire also mentioned Rosalina's name last."

"Maybe she's concerned about Ro-Ro?" Compa tried.

"Or she's afraid that the other Rosalina can be dangerous if unchecked."

"Fair point," Hikari admitted. "Rosalina's not much right now, but I bet with a few levels and new abilities, she'll give Arfoire a run for her money with no problems."

"Which is exactly why Histoire is worried. Human...I mean, the Neuroi are largely unknown to you guys, right?"

"Yeah. We know some things, like their ability to regenerate lost armor sometimes, their classes, the hives, their weaknesses...but sometimes they adapt. Using Witch strategies to fight, incorporating knowledge of magic into a few prototypes...we're not sure how far they can go before they stop. And there aren't really many people with cores inside them, so that area's just as dark."

"So we need to keep an eye on Rosalina whenever she transforms to be safe."

"I think that's a bit fair," I replied. "Once I get my powers under control, though, I don't think I should worry about it as much."

IF then stood onto her feet. "Alright. So now we should go get that permit done before we forget and lose our chance to reach Lastation."

"Okay." The rest of us stood up and followed IF out of the diner.

"So, Team Neptune," Neptune said as she looked at each of us. "You gals ready to rock?"

"I'll do what I can to help," Compa replied.

"Can't leave it to you three to handle it by yourselves, so Hikari and I will tag along," IF said with a smirk. "Course, Gamindustri's doomed if an amnesiac, a girl with a Neuroi core, and a nurse-in-training tried saving us all by themselves."

"I'll help how I can," Hikari told us. "Rosalina and I can handle anything we get...I hope..."

I smiled as I pointed straight ahead. "Alright, let's go save Histoire and defeat Arfoire!"

"Yeah!" everyone else called out in unison.

 _ **And so our brave heroines (so far given the party's got only girls at the moment) take off towards the Basilicom to get their permits and make their way to Lastation. What dangers will they find? How did the Neuroi get into this world? Where are the other Witches from the trailers right now? Who are we?**_

 _ **...Okay, that last bit was a bit unnecessary...**_

 _ **Anyways, next time on** Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi: **the beginning of the Chapter 2 arc, or as we'll call it "the Noire arc"!**_

XXXXXXXXXX

 **[** _ **Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi - Opening Song: Ryūsei no Bifrost by nao**_ **]**

 ***Music starts***

 **A story written by Dilnos521...**

 **(The words "Idea Factory", "Compile Heart", and "Felistella" appear before a red ribble comes in to remove them, replacing the words with a dim Neuroi core)**

 _Limiter...Missing...Save...System...Error_

 **...featuring Ekuro268 as part of the author's notes...**

 **(The core slowly gives off a dim red flash that increases in intensity before emitting a blinding light)**

 **Neptune/Hikari**

 **(The screen shows Neptune, as Purple Heart, and Hikari. Purple Heart uses her old HDN artwork while Hikari has her back against her while the Fuso Witch has her hands close to her chest)**

 _kono sekai ni umareta sono imi wa [The reason we were born on this earth]_

 **Noire/Alexandre-Henri "Alex"**

 **(Left of the screen is Noire, as Black Heart, and to the right is Alexandre. Black Heart, like Purple Heart, uses her old artwork, while Alexandre stands on the other side of the screen, his rapier at the ready and in front of him)**

 _sadame ni ayatsurareru tame janai [was not to be manipulated by fate]_

 **Blanc/Elisabeth "Lili"**

 **(Next are Blanc, as White Heart, and Elisabeth. White Heart, much like the others so far, utilizes her old artwork while Elisabeth stands across from her as she has a similar pose, only using her left fist and having her familiar active)**

 _dakishimete mamoritakute... [Embrace me, for I want...]_

 **Vert/Leo**

 **(Vert, as Green Heart, and Leo appear next. Green Heart, of course, uses her old artwork as well as Leo stands behind her, a golden-colored bow in his left hand ready to fire)**

 _...kakegae no nai kokoro wo [...to protect your irreplaceable heart]_

 **Compa/IF/Rosalina**

 **(As the others are shown, the core now floats over the device codenamed "Neptune" as colored lights stat shining, first being gray, followed by red, blue, and green. As the lights shine, a circular disc appears between the two objects before a single white word appears on the screen)**

 **In...**

 **(A sudden flash of red is emitted before getting to the title)**

 ** _Witches of Gamindustri: Rise of Neuroi_**

 **(First, Planeptune's city is shown as Hikari and IF travel through it, heading towards the Guild. Hikari looks over her left shoulder as if seeing something behind her)**

 _kakushin mezasu mabushiki daichi [I seek reform for our illusive earth]_

 **(Next, a black-clad person stands on top of Lastation's Basilicom at night. His clothes look a bit lile a tuxedo, and his face is hidden by a black helmet with a yellow-tinted visor)**

 _omoiegaku totouki risou yoake ni haseru negai [My wish is to run towards the horizon with noble ideals]_

 **(Third, Elisabeth stands inside a room as she out a window to see snow outside, as Financier, Older Brother, and Younger Brother are walking around outside. She has a cup of tea in her hands, which she drinks)**

 _haruka kanata kara kikoeru kasuka ni watashi wo yobu koe [I faintly heard a voice shouting for me from afar]_

 **(Fourth, Leo sits inside a spare room in Leanbox's Basilicom, his bow hanging on the back of his chair. Like he heard someone, he shuts down the computer given to him, stands up, and grabs his bow)**

 **(Finally, portraits of the CPUs, in their original in-game artwork, go across the screen in order: Neptune, Noire, Vert, Blanc. Son, Rosalina stands alone in a grassy plain by herself and deep in thought. Pictures of IF, Compa, Plutia, and Peashy appear as inserts, with varying borders around the stripes they occupy. IF and Compa use their old artwork while Plutia's has her holding a Neptune doll close to her chest, a sleepy look and a cute smile on her face. Peashy's has her jumping into the air, her right arm up high as her corresponding glove is raised. At the end of this, Rosalina's face is shown as she opens her eyes and looks onwards)**

 _kioku wo kousaku sasete atsui kizamizuita [I let it burn into my memory]_

 **(A battle against Arfoire begins, with Purple Heart, Iris Heart, and Yellow Heart charging and trying to attack. Their enemy blocks Purple Heart's katana as she side-steps Yellow Heart's straight right punch before she steps back to avoid Iris Heart's attack and raises her spear, spinning it to block Hikari's and Leo's shots. She then looks behind her to see Black Heart, White Heart, and Green Heart as they come in from above)**

 _hito wa dare demo kotae wo sagashite [People look to others for their answers]_

 **(Arfoire nimbly avoids White Heart's battleaxe before she catches Green Heart's spear with her own. She then ducks under Black Heart's sword swing before she lets red lines appear on her right arm and, with a slam of the blunt end of her spear against the ground, unleashes a red shockwave that pushes her nearby attackers back)**

 _meguru ryuusei hatenaki tabibito [the orbiting meteor is a traveler with no destination]_

 **(IF, Alexandre, Elisabeth, and Compa are next. Arfoire side-steps stabs from IF's katars and Compa's syringe and sweeps them back with her spear before using the sharp end to block Alexandre's opening strike. She then watches as he backs off before she brings a red barrier to avoid Elisabeth's "One-Two Punch" skill)**

 _hakanakute demo hageshikute... [It's fleeting but intense...]_

 **(Arfoire then looks up as a strange armored girl that reminds her of a CPU flies towards her, red energy wrist blade in front of her. She collides and creates a burst of red energy)**

 _ **...** inochi wo moyashi tsuzukeru [...endlessly burning away its life]_

 **(Histoire is shown looking to the left, her head down and her eyes closed. In the background, a Guard Vermin, a Killachine, the CPU Breaker, and Overlord Momus are shown as she opens her eyes and looks up with hope in them)**

 _yuruginai omoi wo himeta hitomi [My eyes filled with secret devotion]_

 **(Rosalina is shown next, her back to the camera. In the background are the Trinity Blade, the Dual Revolver, the Wisdom Bow, and the Trust Spear as they pass by. She then turns around and gives off a confident smile)**

 _yami no naka ni hikari wo motarashita [brought out the light from inside the dark]_

 **(The camera starts showing characters in order as they are going towards the center, like the camera is pulling back: Broccoli, Tekken, CyberConnect2, Falcom, Histoire, MarvelousAQL, MAGES., Blanc, Elisabeth, Leo, Vert, Alexandre, Noire, Peashy, Plutia, Hikari, IF, Neptune, and Compa)**

 _te wo nobasou mirai e ima [like a hand reaching for the future]_

 **(Rosalina and her transformed state appear in a new scene, against a light blue background, before they fuse so that their faces are shown, Rosalina's left side and her transformed state's right. Their eyes are closed)**

 _kizutsuita tte nani mo kowaku wa nai [I was hurt but I have nothing to fear now]_

 **(Both open their eyes, revealing Rosalina's natural eye color and her other state's glowing red eyes. This is held for a bit)**

 _yasashii kimi ga soko ni iru kara [because you, my darling, are always with me]_

 **(After a while, there is one last close-up of Rosalina's left eye, which flashes red before the title is shown one last time)**

 _*After a while, the music ends like it does at the end of the entire song*_

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _...Why...why in the author notes..._

 **...Well, it's not quite in the notes...**

 _It's still close to the borders of the author notes…_

 _ **Not sure if moment of epicness or...well, one of those moment we'd ask ourselves "Really?"**_

 **It's not that bad! I think...**

 _I second the second part..._

 **Neptune:** Second what part?

 **Aah!**

 _Gah! What the hell, again with the random drop-in?!_

 _ **You two forgot that she popped up in Hikari's trailer for the notes there, right?**_

 **...Must have...**

 **Neptune:** Well, I think it doesn't look too bad...

 _ **To be fair, comparing your series' first game to...well, the remake is a bit...different...also, you knocked us out last time!**_

 _I wonder what she used to knock Lio out...even though Lio's a Neuroi Core..._

 **How did he even feel it anyways...for that matter, what did he feel?**

 _ **It hurt, that's what it was! Well, for a core, mind you...**_

 **Anyways...why are you here, Neptune?**

 **Neptune:** Well, someone last time asked about us popping back in here, and it seemed you already did Ro-Ro, so I figured I'd come back in. Besides, what could be worse?

 **...I do wonder what could be worse...**

 _Everything, Dilnos521?_

 **Right...**

 **Well, let's see...there was the opening thing I did. It's modeled after the opening from the original game, right down to the song used. The only difference between the two is that the bit I used is from the full version. I felt like the original idea I had for this would have had more details if I used part of the full song rather than the edited version for the first game. Anyways, I do want to thank the person who managed to make an English transcript for the song's lyrics (for some reason, I really want to hear a full English dub of it) due to it being what I used for a translation. Also, not quite sure if this works or even allowed (the whole chapter isn't a songfic, but still...), so worst comes to worst I'll stick it on my profile page if I have to remove it. I think. Though I wonder if I can figure out a way to make a fandubbed set of lyrics to match the beat...eh, not my forte technically.**

 _This does explain why you've been away..._

 **Haven't been gone that long...then again, I've been busy between other projects.**

 _And games *Cough* Hyperdimension Neptunia *Cough*_

 _ **We get that a few times.**_

 **It's not "Ninjas of Love", at least...**

 _...Got me there..._

 **Anyways, let's see...for the next arc, it's going to be a long while, but we've got a few new characters joining us. You can look at the OP for some of them, but we will be heading over to Lastation and dealing with Avenir.**

 **And just for a sort of bookmark, let's record what our progress is so far at the end of this chapter:**

 _ **1) Rosalina Dietlinde-Trude Sage**_

 _ **2) Compa**_

 _ **3) Neptune**_

 _ **4) IF/Iffy**_

 _ **5) Hikari Miyafuji/Miyafuji Hikari**_

 **So, until the next arc begins, please read, respond, and let me know what you thought of this chapter and this arc in general. And don't worry: all characters whose votes reached three in the poll will be coming into the story, so for those who have experiences with Nisa, Gust, or 5pb please let me know anything I should note if you could. Also, I'm going to extend the poll for another two weeks to see if anyone else would like to vote Red in. Speaking of...I kinda want to add Red in personally, but my main issue is the fact that the poll was set up to see what you guys wished for me to add in. If you think I should have a vote in the matter, let me know, but for now Red is currently not entering the story.**

 **Anyways, this is Dilnos521…**

 _ **We're Lionelis…**_

 **Neptune:** I'm Neptune!

 _And I'm Ekuro268!_

 **Thanks, guys, and we will be seeing you next time!**


	9. Let's Head to Lastation!

**Hey, uh...I just realized something: last time on this story, your name was Ekuro268, yet you changed your name between then and now.**

 _ **...Why?**_

 _Because it would confuse my OC "Ekuro" with my name "Ekuro268"...so that's why I replaced the "u" with an "i", now naming me "Ekiro268"...am I not a genius?_

 _ **That would depend on the connotation: are we talking positively or negatively?**_

 **Probably positively. I mean, usually if someone uses it negatively then it sounds a lot like "Nice going, genius."**

 _ **Right. Though...you aren't exactly qualified to be teaching English to the masses.**_

 **Hey, I can do it as a tutoring thing!**

 _*Whispers* Hey we're live right now!_

 _ **Wait, since when?**_

 **...Oh! We've been going since we came in here! Hold on one second. *clears throat***

 **Alright, here we are! We're back with the start of the next arc, and this one is going to-**

 _ **Hold on a second!**_

 **...**

 _...This isn't the Phoenix Wright "HOLD IT!" thing...right?_

 _ **No...but...there's someone sleeping in here…**_

 _Lio, don't know if you realised it or not, but READERS ARE LOOKING AT A SCREEN!_

 ***looks around* Yeah, but that hasn't stopped us before...speaking of, who's even in here, Lio? There's you, me, my fellow author, a computer on right now, a sleeping Plutia over in the corner-wait a second! *looks again***

 _WHATZEFUK!? (Translation: What the f #$?!)_

 _ **...We think she's been sleeping there since we ended the last arc...**_

 **But why?! Also, might wanna get that checked, dude...**

 _ **Dunno. She does apparently enjoy napping, so...at least, we think she does.**_

 _W-w-why is she here?!_

 **Dunno either. Best not to wake her up for now. I don't want her to get angry or something and turn into Iris Heart...my insurance doesn't cover a goddess' wrath...**

 _*Whispering* Psst, just so you know, she's the last person besides Blanc to piss off...just so we're clear…_

 **Yeah, I already know that last bit...she was the one who smacked the bold out of me...**

 _Blanc/White Heart or Plutia/Iris Heart?_

 **Erm...as in "who would I want more?" Well...Plutia's not going to simply try smacking me around when she's angry...but Blanc's kinda quiet and writes/reads for a hobby...but then again when Blanc's angry it gets physical really fast...however-**

 _I meant that as a joke...on who smacked the bold out of you… -_-_

 _ **...The author would like to say for the record that he didn't enjoy that bit. He would also like to add that he's got some incriminating proof of you making a comment about the same sort of thing he got smacked around for...**_

 _Scheisse..._

 ** _Exactly._**

 **...Anyways, let's just try getting this done without accidentally waking the sleeping goddess up.**

 _Yes and "Noire" are we stupid enough to wake her up..._

 _ **...Going on with no responses to the pun there...**_

 **So welcome to the start of the second arc, which we will refer to as the "Noire" arc. For this, we will be answering the reviews from the last chapter, so to start with that:**

 _kineke13_ **: Don't worry, it was a bit like this during my first story ever for a few chapters. Then again, this is categorized in...I guess an awkward crossover or something? Dunno, but I think that word of mouth would help the situation out best. Course, I'm not endorsing it personally given last I checked it's not really a good idea for the author to blatantly look for attention (or was that for something else? Dunno, never really looked into the science of clickbait, nor do I really wanna...), but I do know that sometimes recommending something to someone could help at least get some more attention drawn to it. Ultimately, it's up to the readers to decide if something is worth recommending. Well, that's what I think. It is lonely sometimes responding to a single review but I really don't mind.**

 **As for the rest of your review, nice to know that the opening seemed good in your case. And yep: the journey's beginning. We've got some DLC characters joining us, we've got to get the other Witches on Team Neptune, or at least the main team...**

 _ **Are we going for assimilation here?**_

 **No? Anyways, thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy this next arc.**

 **And that's it for reviews so far. So let us get this chapter going. Time to see what's going on at the moment since the end of the last arc...**

 **XXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 8: Let's Head to Lastation!**

 _Hikari's POV_

"Well, here we are," IF said as we stood outside what I could only describe as looking like a church. "Planeptune's Basilicom."

"It's a bit...weird," Neptune was the first to note.

"What do you mean?" Rosalina asked.

"I was thinking that it was going to look...exciting. Not...boring? And where's the pudding at?"

Somehow I think she was upset that the place didn't have pudding, a question she had asked IF while we were coming here. "You don't need pudding, Neptune."

"But Compa's are so good!"

"That's nice to know, but that's not really an excuse to just want them. I like her pudding too, but you don't see me craving them every minute, do you?"

"Can you two not argue over my pudding please?" Compa asked. I don't think she enjoyed seeing two of her friends bicker over her pudding. "Otherwise, no more pudding for either of you."

"No way!" Neptune cried out.

"She's going to be tough to handle, isn't she?" IF asked me as she chose to talk to me.

"I'm not sure," I replied.

"Anyways..." IF cleared her throat. "Alright, you three, let's head inside and get our permits done."

"That sounds good." We walked into the Basilicom, and I was instantly in awe. The place looked really elaborate around here, with people around here wearing some robes that had white with purple stripes on them.

"This is the Basilicom," IF said to me and Rosalina.

"Hello," a robed person said from behind a desk. "Can I help you girls?" It sounded like it was male.

"Yeppie!" Compa replied.

"We're looking for some permits to travel to Lastation," Neptune added. "Also, some pudding if possible." She was prodded in the side by IF's left elbow. "What? I had to ask..."

"Pudding?" the man asked, sounding confused. "I'm afraid we don't carry any. But I'm sure there's a store nearby that carries them. As for your permits, I can help you over here." We wandered over to the desk he led us to, the man taking a seat behind it as he fished out some forms from a filing cabinet that he had nearby. "Alright, I need a reason for your permit."

"Well, we're off on an adventure to look for some treasures and fight some monsters."

"I see...adventuring and monster-slaying..." The man looked on his desk for a pen and placed them in front of him. "Hmm...I could place them as volunteer work. It'd look good on a résumé. Any length of time?"

"Would 'the foreseeable future' count?" Rosalina asked.

"We'll just call it 'long-term', but it works." He then started writing down the details we just gave him. "Now, all I need are your names."

"That's an easy part. There's IF, Compa, myself, name's Rosalina...Hikari...and Neptune."

"...Rosalina...Hikari...and..." the man said to himself as he was remembering the names so he could write them down. He got Hikari's but paused a bit. "Neptyoon, you said?"

"No, no, Neptune."

"Neptree?"

"No, Neptune."

"...Nuptup?"

"Oh my..." IF groaned in realization. "You can't pronounce Neptune, can you?"

"I guess not. Sorry..."

The brunette sighed. "I don't get it, I can say it perfectly fine, and I know Rosalina and Hikari can as well."

"I can say it too!" Neptune announced.

"Well, you have Compa calling you 'Nep-Nep'."

"To be fair," Compa admitted. "I tried pronouncing her name but failed...I barely did Ro-Ro's."

"So...what name should I put on here?" the man asked us.

"Would spelling it out help you?" I tried.

"Yeah. It won't help with me saying it, but I can make sure the right name's on here."

"Right." I patiently spelled Neptune's name out for him to write down.

"Thanks, Miss..."

"Hikari. Or Miyafuji, that's my family name."

"...Miyafuji." He then handed Neptune a piece of paper before he handed us one each. "You five are allowed access to use of the Sky Bridge. Any party members who join you will have these rights given to them as long as they are in your party. Upon leaving, they must have a permit themselves to use said bridge. Good luck in your travels."

"Thanks," I said.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So now what?" Rosalina asked as she looked at each of us. "We have permits to travel to the other landmasses, right?"

"Yeah," IF told her. "But we still have to wait. According to what I read..." She pulled out a blue flip phone and pressed a few buttons. "...we won't be able to go until tomorrow. So we should take some time to get some new weapons and prepare."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"New weapons?" Neptune asked. "Awesomesauce! I want a badass sword!"

"That might cost a fair bit," I told her myself. "We barely have cash, so..."

Neptune chuckled nervously. "Oh. Right."

"I think Hikari and I can pool our credits in with yours and help buy a few things," IF offered.

"Really? You'd do that, Iffy?" I think Neptune got stars in her eyes or something.

IF only sighed after hearing that name. "Yeah. I am part of the party, so I should at least be able to help fund supplies so that we don't 'game over' due to poor equipment."

Neptune hugged IF happily. "You're the best, Iffy!"

Evidently, she didn't enjoy being called "Iffy" still. "Ugh..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Welcome to the shop," the owner of the shop greeted us as we entered inside. "How can I help you ladies?" He then looked at Rosalina and Compa. "Oh, it's you two! I see you've gotten a few more friends with you."

"Yeah," Rosalina added timidly. "We did, didn't we?"

"I remember when I gave you those things a while back. Speaking of which...how is the N-Gear working?"

"Rather fine, sir. Still getting the hang of it, but..."

"N-Gear?" Neptune asked. "You mean, like this?" She then rummaged around in one of her pockets and pulled out the same device I owned. Hers was colored mainly purple instead of mainly black.

"Oh, you got one too?" the shopkeeper asked. "Maybe I should consider getting one myself. Seems like a lot of kids might end up with it after a while. Anyways, what do you girls need?"

"Have any new weapons for us to use?"

"I've got a few. Just got them, too. Strangely enough, some girls also came in here earlier. Looking for some to replace theirs."

"Some girls?" I asked.

"Yeah. Anyways, I'm not going to waste your time. So what are you looking for?"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

"And that's going to run a total of twenty-five hundred credits," the shopkeeper told us. "For five weapons."

"I'll buy them," IF offered as she dug around her pockets and handed the man a card.

Neptune and Compa were kind enough to be carrying mine and Hikari's old gear in their personal inventory for a bit, and I was busy fitting the sheath of the sword I got out of a group of weapons called "Copper Gear", the blaster being on my left hip already in its holster. The weapons looked like they were designed to look like copper items.

Hikari's was a sniper rifle that looked to be a musket that had a sight mounted near the rear of the barrel. I think it was called "Mighty Musket" or something.

Compa was holding her new syringe in her hands gently, being called "Expired Liquid", while Neptune was studying the Tachi she had bought. IF's Claws were already under her sleeves before she went to pay.

"Thanks," the shopkeeper told us as IF finished paying for our weapons. "I wish you luck on your journey."

"Thanks," I told him as we left the shop.

"Now what?" Compa asked.

"We should probably see about doing some quests or something," IF said. "We could use the cash after buying equipment."

"Right," I said. "So want to head to the Guild and..." I then looked and noticed a surprising absence of Neptune. And Hikari, for some reason. "Okay, where did Neptune and Hikari go?"

My companions looked around the area and noticed their absence as well. "Where _did_ they run off to?"

"I'm...not sure..." Compa admitted. "They were in the shop with us a while ago..."

"Maybe they were excited to head to Lastation and decided to head to the Sky Bridge?" I tried.

"And who gave them directions there?" IF asked. "While Neptune I can't really deny being from here, I can't say the same for either you or Hikari."

"...Fair point."

IF sighed. "Better look around town. I don't want to know what kind of trouble we're going to have to clean up around here."

[ **Neptune** and **Hikari** have left your party...?]

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Neptune's POV_

"Erm...Neptune?" Hikari asked me as I was leading her around town. "Why are you dragging me around?"

"There was this snazzy-looking place called an arcade around here," I told her, leading her through a crowd of wandering people. "I wanted to see what it was like."

"...Wouldn't the others get upset? We didn't exactly leave a note..."

"You're worrying too much, my dear Hikari. I'm a main heroine, so if they need to find me they can find do it faster than if they went looking for you. Double because they've got Ro-Ro on the case."

"I'm confused...why is Rosalina going to help them find you faster?"

"We're both the main characters of this story. Me for being it for the game, and Ro-Ro for this story itself."

Hikari looked confused still, but she shook her head. "I think I'll figure it out. Roland-sama seemed to have a knack for this sort of thing better than anyone else I know."

"That's the spirit!" I looked around quickly, trying to locate our destination. "Now, where was it...?" I then spotted it: a building with a sign on it flashing in yellow lights "ARCADE". "Aha! Found it!"

I led her to the entrance. "...I just thought of it: what's an arcade?"

"What?" I stopped and looked at her. "You have no idea what an arcade is?"

"No...I'm from the Nineteen-Fifties or so, so I don't have any clue about this sort of thing."

"Well...good thing we're going to be fixing that. For a basic idea of it, it's...well, this." I showed her the inside, with a bunch of boxes playing games.

"...How do you even know what an arcade is?"

"I have my moments."

"...As Roland-sama might say, 'Really'?"

XXXXXXXXXX

Soon, we gathered a few coins from the change machine and went looking around for a game we could both play.

"Hmm...what to play first?" I asked myself as I carried the coins in one of my pockets.

"Um...'Sidewalk Warriors'?" Hikari asked, spotting one title. "Erm...'Temporal Panic'? 'Human Brawl'?"

"Cool!" I shouted as I found a good machine to have Hikari try playing. "Here's one!" I raced over to it and looked at the title. "Let's see...'Detris'..." I fished out two coins, handing one to Hikari. "Alright, let's try this one. It's a two-player."

"Okay...what am I supposed to do?"

"Easy! Just...actually I don't know myself. Stupid amnesia..."

"Oh dear...maybe we should watch the screen for a bit and see if anything helpful shows up."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

"I give up!" IF shouted out of frustration about fifteen minutes after we noticed that Neptune and Hikari had run off after getting their weapons. "They've been eaten..." We had stopped at a small café for a while in order to recover from our search, and the best lead we had was a young girl with some sort of elastic-looking ball with a cat-like face and arms, who said that she had seen someone she recognized as the girl we had been looking for around this area. She then mentioned something about her name, which I noted as being "Broccoli", adding as a side note not to be like someone else she knew who called her "Puchiko". Strange thing was that I swear that sounded like something Neptune would say.

"I think Iffy's giving up," Compa noted, a slice of what she called red velvet cake in front of her.

"You'd think we'd find an amnesiac purple-haired girl and a girl lugging around a sniper rifle by now..."

"As long as they're not causing trouble right now, right?" I asked. I was busy looking at my N-Gear.

"True...still, I don't like leaving her by herself, especially with that Arfoire lady after her."

"We're in Planeptune. Wouldn't the goddess be protecting us by now?"

"Um...Lady Purple Heart hasn't come back from Celestia yet."

I blinked. "Wait, what?"

"I have no idea what she actually looks like, but Lady Purple Heart's been missing for a while. That's what the forums say."

So the goddess here's missing, huh? Aren't goddesses found in a place above the human skies?

Wait a second...

"Ro-Ro?" Compa decided to ask me. "Do you want to go to the arcade for a bit?"

"Compa, why are you asking that sort of question?" IF asked.

"Well...I just thought that it'd help you two unwind. You've been doing nothing but looking at the N-Gear since we started looking, Ro-Ro, and Iffy's probably stressed out from looking, huh?"

IF only gave off a groan. I think she's given up on correcting people's "Iffy" usage. "Fair point, Compa...sure, I'll bite, but let me just sit here for a bit."

"Excuse me..." I started, "but what's an arcade?" Both girls looked at me, perplexed. "Was it something I said?"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Hikari's POV_

"Detris!" Neptune called out as she cleared four lines at the same time.

Apparently, the game we were playing was simple: all you had to do was line up blocks apparently made of four squares in varying shapes so that they form a line. You score points for each line, and they get erased to make some more room for you to make more. As this seemed to be a two-player game, it seemed like you were supposed to outlast your opponent or beat their score at the end of it.

"Double?" I said as I cleared two lines. I had to move my line Detrimino (no joke, that's what they're called) into an available space and made two new lines form, scoring points.

"Heh, you're not bad at this game...for your first time," Neptune admitted.

Is that a compliment? "Same to you?"

"I've got this on lockdown, though." I watched as Neptune set a T-shaped Detrimino into place, clearing three lines. "Triple!"

"At least you're having fun, right?"

"Of course I am! I'm happier than a cute puppy getting some loving!"

Exaggeration much? "Figured as much."

We continued playing until I made a mistake and, panicking while trying to make room, I let the pile of blocks prevent a new piece from coming in, and I lost the game.

 _...Goddammit..._ I found myself thinking for some reason.

"I win!" Neptune shouted happily as she threw her hands in the air in a victorious way.

"I see that, Neptune," I added quickly. "Good game, I guess...that's what one would say, right?"

"Dunno, but wanna go again?"

"Sure, but maybe we should look behind us and see if there's anyone waiting in line first before we do so." I looked behind me and saw someone standing behind me. "Um, Neptune?"

Standing behind us was a little girl who looked to be...eight? Nine? I couldn't really how old she really was, but she definitely had strawberry-blond hair that was rather short. It almost reminded me of someone's hairstyle, but it was longer, reaching about where her neck met her shoulders if not a little bit before that. There were two large red bobbles on top of her hair, and her clothes seemed to remind me of IF's...if she was a little kid and wore a bee-like-schemed jumpsuit. White stars were just above her cuffs, and a large fluffy white ball was right under her collar. On her feet were a pair of red sneakers that seemed to be some weird design incorporating buckles, and her hands were covered by some gloves in the shape of cat paws.

"What is it, Hikari?" Neptune asked as she turned her head to look behind her and noticed the girl as well. "Oh. Hi there, little girl."

"Hello, Neptuna," the little girl said, cerulean eyes looking at the lilac-haired girl while having a smile on her face.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **And there's the end of the next chapter.**

 _ **A little weird, having the little kid there...**_

 **...That would be…*whispers the answer to Lionelis***

 _…*Whispers* What are you guys even talking about? This is Defcon one situation we're talking here!_

 _ **We're not whispering to avoid breaking national security here! We're whispering to avoid spoiling things for readers just in case!**_

 _Shhh! Are you trying to kill us all?!_

 **Shhh! You're not helping!**

 **Plutia:** *yawns as she stretches her arms over her head*

 _*Quiet squeal* Eeek!_

 **Just play it cool! Single file! We'll blame it on the sand people!**

 _ **...No...just...no...**_

 **Oh, come on! I'm referring to a Robot Chicken reference!**

 **Plutia:** Um...what are you three yelling about?

 **Oh, nothing, Plutia...**

 _Ermm...H-h-hello, Plutia. ^_^"_

 **Plutia:** *smiles sleepily* Hello! Are you guys part of the story?

 **...Not quite…?**

 _ **We're not part of the story**_ **per se** _ **...our name is Lionelis...well, that's the name our creator gave us.**_

 **I'm Dilnos521, the author for this fanfic. And this is the newly-renamed Ekiro268, a fellow author and my beta reader/"weapon expert" for this.**

 _H-h-hi a-again..._

 **Plutia:** Why is your friend acting so strange?

 **He's just trying not to upset you.**

 **Plutia:** Oh. I'm not that bad, am I?

 _N-no...it's just that erm…I don't exactly don't want you to...y'know...transform..._

 **Plutia:** Oh...well, I guess it's not too bad...though I still don't know why the others won't let me transform freely.

 **Dunno either...but then again you're not, well, you when you're "her"…**

 _ **Should we give her a [CENSORED] bar?**_

 **...I'm not attempting to avoid getting sued, so...let's not use that word for now...**

 _A-anyways, should we end it here?_

 **For now? Sure…**

 **Right, before we end this, some things to note: I'm kinda sad that I couldn't really cover Broccoli more coming in given you don't really see her again (if I recall right) until some time in Chapter 5, when you're looking for information on possible locations Histoire was at. Maybe I'll have a mini-series showing her and some of the others talking about the story or something. I dunno, but I'll figure things out. Also, the names for some of these games are based on a few things, like Detris was something I saw from a different fanatic. As such, any names you find here that soundboard they came from another series will either belong to the author who used it or something. This is just to cover some bases.**

 **Anyways, please read, respond, and let me know what you thought about this. And before I forget: I usually don't do this in the middle of a work-in-progress story, but I really am curious about something, and I don't think I've asked it before. I'll be asking this question on my other stories so I have time to gather as many people's opinions as I can, but I want to know: what was the first story you've read that was made by me, and how did you come across it? Alternately, if you don't want to answer that or don't recall which one or how, then what did you like (or currently like) about my stories? I hope to hear from you guys, but remember that this is optional. As long as you enjoyed this chapter, that's good enough for me.**

 **Thanks, and we will see you in the next chapter!**

 _ **Hopefully, we will be able to figure out this thing concerning Plutia.**_


	10. Plutia and Peashy Join the Party!

**_Alright...the authors aren't quite here yet...so...we've still got You-Know-Who here._**

 **Plutia:** Hey, that's not very nice, you know…

 ** _True. And we do apologize. But...we're still surprised that you haven't transformed yet._**

 **Plutia:** Oh. Hmm...

 _ **We wonder...how bad can it be anyways?**_

 **Plutia:** Ooh! Want me to transform?

 ** _Sure. What the hell._**

 ***About ten minutes later***

 **Alright, Lio, we're here now. How's Plutia…Hey, where's Lio?**

 _Forget about Lio, worry about your insurance on this place!_

 **I'll have to look at it later...let's look around a bit…**

 _ **Little help over here...**_

 **Lio? Where are you?**

 _ **Over here.**_

 _We're on a bloody screen for god's sakes, give us directions instead of "over here"._

 **...I think he's the red globe over there...wait, red globe? *runs over to Lionelis, who is apparently made to resemble an Atlas globe* Okay, Lio, why are you a globe?**

 ** _We didn't ask to be one. Anyways, we're glad she didn't use a needle to hold us in place..though these holders aren't giving us any comfort..._**

 **Hold on, first off, who? And second, what do you mean?**

 _Please tell me you didn't ask Plutia to transform..._

 _ **Depends. You think Iris Heart knows how to make a globe out of a Neuroi core?**_

 _He asked for it...and I never thought Judgement day would come..._

 **Oh, it can't be too bad…**

 _Welp, guess you could say Lio had a "Global Revengeance"_

 **…**

 ** _*cough*_**

 _Okay, that was bad…I blame Yang for that..._

 **Iris Heart:** Sorry to keep you waiting~!

 _EEKKK!_

 **Jesus, man. There are no mice around here. Besides, I've used Plutia in Re;Birth1 and she didn't seem too bad-and she's right behind me, isn't she?**

 _...D-d-do I even need to answer that?!_

 **...Your choice?**

 **Iris Heart:** How cute. Someone who's not concerned with the fact that his friend's afraid...

 **Ma'am? I've dealt with four CPUs, a Neuroi core, and one of my OCs. I doubt you're much harder...**

 **Iris Heart:** Hmm...we'll see about that.

 _I wish you the best of luck, Dilnos! *Runs away*_

 **...Okay...well, before you do anything you've potentially got planned, can I at least handle my reviews?**

 **Iris Heart:** I guess that would do. But know that I'm going to take great pleasure in this...

 ***gulp* Welp...for comedy or horror...I will accept my fate at this point...but before I do, let's handle the reviews:**

 _kineke13_ **: To be completely honest, it was a bit difficult to figure out how to get that particular character in back when I was working on the drafts, but this seemed to be the best way to do so given that the DLC didn't really include her or the others as part of the storyline (well, except for one, but we won't get her to join until Chapter 7 (arc) material. Anyways, I'm sure the group needed a bit of a break before they go into Lastation and deal with Avenir. Apart from that, thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoy the next chapter.**

 **Alright...while I either figure out how to placate Iris Heart here or fail to do that, you guys just enjoy the next chapter. And maybe just in case, I leave all the points I've ever had in you guys' hands. You know the drill.**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 9: Plutia and Peashy Join the Party!**

"How do you know Neptune?" I asked the little girl. She seemed to know Neptune from somewhere...

"She helped me get my memories back along with Plutie and the others," the little girl explained.

So this "Plutie" person knows Neptune as well...wait, others?

"Well, this is a bit embarrassing..." Neptune said nervously. "Are you sure you know me? I mean, it's not hard missing little old me, but I'm pretty sure I'd have had something trigger in my mind if I knew you from somewhere."

"I'm pretty sure," the little girl continued. "Though...to be fair, I really don't recall you having worn that sort of outfit before."

Okay, I'm confused...what outfit did this little girl see her in? "If you say so...anyways, did you want to play for a bit?"

"Yeah, but I lost Plutie around here and I don't really know where she is at the moment. Do you mind sharing your coins until we find her?"

"Well, we could always go look for her really quick," I tried. "Do you know what she looks like?"

"Hmm..." the little girl pondered on the idea. "I don't know if I can actually describe her without a picture or a reference, but maybe she'll find us. Plus, you'll probably know her when you see her. She looks a bit like Neptuna."

"So a copy of me?" Neptune asked next. "Sounds weird...I mean, I know fighting games will have different costumes for each character in case your opponent liked the character you chose, but in real life?"

"Not sure if I should be reacting good or bad right now..." I noted before sighing. "I can take a break. Plus, I can keep an eye out for the others just in case. They should be looking for us by now..."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

"Are you sure we have enough credits to be gorging on velvet cakes at the moment, IF?" I asked the brunette as she was busy eating her third slice of red velvet cake. Apparently, Compa asked her to try it as it tasted good and, when IF refused on the grounds of being too tired to eat had it fed to her. This gave her a positive reaction as she promptly asked the nearest waitress to bring her a slice. And then another. And then two more in take-out boxes.

"I'm not gorging on them," IF explained halfway through the third slice. "They taste great. Besides, I can treat myself to something special, right?"

"I think Iffy's stressed enough to gorge," Compa pointed out.

"Am not!"

"Anyways," I decided to say, "What's an arcade?"

"An arcade is...well, in the sense we're using, an arcade is a place where you can go and play some arcade cabinets, which have games in them. 'C-Bert', 'Detris', 'Spirit Calibur', things like that."

"Oh. That sounds oddly complicated..."

"It's not as bad as you think. It's not like there's just those three games in there. I heard that there was a game way back in the day that was played so much that the change in it started messing with the cabinet or something. I think it was 'Ping' or something..."

I blinked. "Oh. So...change is bad?"

IF must have thought about it a bit. "Huh? Not like that, Rosalina."

"Maybe it's best that we just show Ro-Ro," Compa said.

"Right." IF finished off her cake and stood up. "It's a bit down the street, if I remember correctly."

"Excuse me?" someone asked us in a slow manner. No, really, it was spoken rather slowly.

"Huh?" I asked as we looked around. "Who said that?"

"There's someone behind you, Ro-Ro," Compa said as she pointed behind me.

"Really?" I turned my head around and saw someone in the corner of my eye. "Oh, there is." I then turned around completely and looked at the person, who was a young girl.

She seemed to look similar to Neptune in some areas but seemed to look like she wore pajamas for normal clothes rather than a hoodie. Her long light purple hair was braided down to her back, the rest reaching around her rear. A pink frill ribbon tied the braid together. She had a white choker around her neck, and her magenta eyes were looking at us as a whole. Her dress (I'll just call it that for now) was teal with a mixture of pink, white, and light orange, and accompanying them were socks reaching up to around her mid-thighs, the socks missing the teal part but having stripes matching the other colors in alternating order. On her feet were a pair of pink bear slippers.

"Hello, miss," Compa greeted. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah," the girl started. "I'm looking for someone. Did any of you see a little girl wearing a bee-themed costume with a tail and cat paws?" The slowness of her speech was a bit...hard to follow. Probably because I didn't think someone could speak slowly. At least, not normally.

"Not from what we recall, no," IF told her. "We're looking for some people as well."

"Have you seen Nep-Nep and Hikari anywhere?" Compa asked.

The girl's eyes seemed to light up for some reason. "Neppy?"

"So I guess you've heard of Neptune," I said. Though...Neppy? I don't think that was an option Neptune presented to us back when Compa found she couldn't pronounce the name well (something that seems to have been repeated by the guy in the Basilicom).

"Yeah! Well...I'm sorry, but I didn't see her yet. Or this Hikie person."

"...Hikie?" I'm really baffled.

The girl seemed to give it some thought for a few seconds before she got an idea. "Why don't we look for them together?"

I looked at my companions, IF shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't see a problem with it," she stated. "It'd certainly help out with finding them. If we find this girl she's looking for along the way, then bonus points, right?"

"It's good to help strangers," Compa agreed. "Plus, we do need to replace Nep-Nep for the moment."

"Sure, we can help," I told the girl finally. "We were going to head to the arcade for a bit, so if she's interested in games, we can find the person you're looking for."

"Thank you!" the girl said happily.

"We do need a name, though. We're not sure who you are, so..."

"Oh, that's fine. My name's Plutia, but you can call me something else like Plutie, Plu-Plu..."

"That's fine, Plutia. My name's Rosalina Dietlinde-Trude Sage, and these are IF and Compa."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ro-Ro." I think she picked up that nickname from Compa just now. "Though...I didn't realize that you had Iffy and Compa around here too."

"...You know them too?" When did those two meet her?

"Yeah."

"Sorry, but I've never met her before," IF said quickly.

"Same here, sorry," Compa added.

 ** _Maybe it's a dimensional thing,_** a voice in my head said.

"Dimensional thing?" I asked aloud, replying to the voice.

The others (including newcomer Plutia) looked at me, perplexed.

"Are you okay, Ro-Ro?" Compa asked me.

"Yeah," I told her, "though...did I just say that out loud?"

 ** _That last bit?_** The voice asked. **_Yeah._**

...Am I going crazy?

 ** _No, it's just a side-effect of waking up the core inside you. Well, tapping into it. Your father has the same issue with his, though it took a while to get his to talk._**

...What?

 ** _I'll explain later, but for now just know that I am the core inside you._**

Core?

 ** _*sigh* Neuroi core._**

I blinked.

"You sure you're okay?" Compa tried again, looking really concerned.

"Just dandy," I said. "Just...thinking, that's all."

[ **Plutia** has joined your party! Also, **A Voice** has joined your narrative!]

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Hikari's POV_

"Aw man!" Neptune said in shock as she somehow lost to the new girl. "And I was doing so well, too!"

"Ha ha, I win!" the girl said cheerfully, perched on a small step stool given to us to accommodate her height.

"I wanna rematch!"

"Okay! This is really fun!"

I sighed as I sat down next to the machine and waited a bit. My rifle...

Hang on, where did my rifle go?

Wait, I remembered now: the guy at the front asked me to hand him it due to this place being a violence-free zone. Which apparently applied to everyone with a weapon visible.

"There you are, Nep!" I heard IF's voice call out.

Neptune (who was busy in her next game with the girl) looked to her left and saw someone coming because she got rather happy.

"Hey, Iffy!" Neptune replied. "Glad to see you guys got here!"

"Yeah, no thanks to you," IF added as I stood onto my feet and turned to face the brunette. "Hey there, Hikari."

"Hello, IF," I said nicely as I added a quick bow.

"Anyways, you two should be glad we thought to come to the arcade...but for a completely different reason."

"Oh. Neptune kinda just dragged me away a bit...Where are the others anyways?"

"Rosalina apparently never played one of these things before, so when she found one to try she went to go play it. Compa and Plutia are with her."

"Plutie?" the girl asked quickly. "Where?" She even looked at IF excitedly.

"What game is she playing?" I asked.

"One of the shooter games, 'Temporal Panic'," IF replied.

"...'Temporal Panic'? Shooter?"

XXXXXXXXXX

It took a few more minutes (as Neptune and the girl had to finish their current Detris game), but we went over to where IF had left the others...in order to see a crowd formed around the area.

"Okay, what's with the sudden crowd?" Neptune asked. "Isn't it a bit early for that?"

"I'm curious about that as well," IF admitted.

"Oh dear..." I said quickly.

"What is it, Hikari?"

"I think she's doing extremely well."

If looked baffled. "Huh?"

"What do you mean?" the little girl asked.

"Well," I tried explaining, "Rosalina's mother and father were soldiers, her mother being one of the top aces and her father having a good aim with a pistol. If I had to take a guess, she's playing it like an actual war."

"I think you're just over-exaggerating," Neptune told me as she started making her way through the crowd. "Excuse us!"

"Pardon us!" I added.

It took us a few seconds to get into the middle of the circle but what we found was...well...

"Oh, hey, you guys," Compa called out. She was with a girl I didn't recognize, and the two of them were off to the side as they watched Rosalina play the game...which she seemed to be winning. I couldn't tell.

"What's going on, Compa?" IF asked.

"Well...Ro-Ro's been playing this and seems to be really good at this game despite playing it for the first time."

"Not sure if good or bad."

"I'd say it's good. She apparently hasn't been hit once."

IF then looked at me. "What did your parents teach you exactly?"

"You know, the basic Witch stuff," I replied, counting off the things I learned. "Contracting with a familiar, operating a Striker Unit, how to deal with personal issues on the fly, shooting guns and gun safety, how to do a proper push-up, shield-making, utilizing your powers to your best abilities, controlling said powers, learn the names of all your comrades...you know, basic stuff."

IF and Compa both looked at me strangely.

"...What?" the brunette asked.

"You asked," I told her.

"...How old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"And they actually train you for that sort of thing?"

"Well, Witches are considered humanity's trump card, so we're usually recruited when we're young. About...ten or so."

IF blinked. "Okay, you can't be telling me they're training a girl barely going through...well, changes how to shoot a gun."

"They do sound like they're preparing you for facing Mister Monsters," Compa noted.

"Pretty much, I guess," I replied. "We do have male Witches, or I think the better term might be Wizards, but since there's a difference in their biological clock they wouldn't start until a little later."

"...Child soldiers..." IF mused.

"It's not as far-fetched as us learning how to defend ourselves when we were younger," Compa told her.

"I know, but...we volunteer to do that sort of thing. We don't exactly get drafted into an army at the age of ten or eleven."

"Well, we're not forced either," I explained some more. "It's just that as we're the trump cards we're useful on the field. The only problem is...there are extremely little amounts of Witches maintaining their original power levels past the age of twenty, and I've only known of three instances where a Witch burned his or her magic supply. Plus, we're usually at our best up to that age, so...it's also not like we don't have to get permission to be recruited if we're not adults. It wouldn't be fair for the families, right?"

"Good point."

"Done," Rosalina said as she completed the game and placed a plastic pistol she had been using into a compartment on the cabinet. "I really don't see the fuss about that sort of game." She then looked at the crowd that had gathered. "Oh...is it that much of one?"

"Not quite," IF told her as the crowd started to disperse. "Just that not a lot of people can actually play it like you did."

"Well...it's not really too difficult. Just look at your surroundings. That's what my mom taught me...I think."

"Right...Anyways, we found our missing teammates."

"Oh. Erm...good job, IF. You didn't happen to find the little girl Plutia's looking for, did you?"

Speaking of little girls, the one with us ran over to Plutia and gave her a hug.

"Plutie!" she cried out.

"Hello, Peashy," the girl, who I can guess is Plutia, replied. "You didn't cause any problems for Neppy or Hikie, did you?"

Neptune looked at IF and Rosalina.

"Neppy?" she asked.

"...Hikie?" I added, confused.

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

"Oh, that explains so much," Neptune told me once I explained to her the idea of dimensional travel. Well, to my best abilities. "I was wondering how a complete stranger knew me."

"Erm...yeah, you could say that in a sense," I replied. "Plutia and...Peashy, was it? Anyways, they know you because an alternate version of you met them. It's also why they know IF and Compa."

"Yeppie," Plutia added. "Compa and Iffy were raised with Peashy since they were babies in our dimension, so we know them from that."

"It's really hard to believe that they were all together at one point," Neptune said. "Here, we met Iffy in a cave, and Compa was the one who helped me out."

"How old are we right now back there?" Compa asked.

"Erm..." Plutia started as she gave it some thought. "I think about your early twenties..."

"Oh."

"Wait...early twenties?" I asked as I looked at Peashy. "If that's the case, then why is Peashy...?"

"Oh, that one's easy!" Plutia said cheerfully. "A goddess doesn't age, so whatever age they were when they became one is preserved."

"Ah." Okay...when Peashy became one... "Hold up. I'm really confused...who made a little girl-no offense, Peashy."

"None taken!" Peashy replied.

"But who made her a goddess?"

"That's a story for a different time..." Plutia told me. "Histy would be a bit upset about you not remembering us..."

"Histy?" Hey, how does Plutia know about Histoire?

"What's wrong?" Plutia looked concerned...or as much as a girl who looks really docile can get.

"We're looking for her right now. Trapped for some reason."

"Oh...well, can we come along?"

I blinked. I know that we let her join the party, but... "How come?"

"Well, the more the merrier, right? Plus, we can hang out with Neppy, Iffy, and Compa. Speaking of which...did you want to be friends?"

"Sure. Hikari and I are still new here, so more friends means we'll be more comfortable here."

"Yay!" Peashy cried out as she decided to jump onto me and give me a hug. "I wanna be friends too!"

"Peashy, you've got...a good grip..." She really did: it was like I was getting a really tight hug...wait, I am!

"Definitely a good thing to have more to help us fight," Hikari added.

"I hope we can have lots of fun along the way!" Neptune concluded.

[ **Neptune** and **Hikari** have rejoined your party! **Peashy** has also joined!]

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 ** _...So...apparently, we've got the main author here huddled into a fetal position, mumbling something to himself...the other author doesn't seem to be coming back right now...and now we're able to show you where Madagascar is...is this considered a good day?_**

 **Iris Heart:** It is for me~

 ** _And now we're regretting asking you to transform...thankfully, you're not this bad canonically...are you?_**

 **Iris Heart:** Depends. Would you like to see what else I can do?

 ** _No thank you, Madam Goddess!_**

 _*Peeks around corner* Hello? Lio? Dilnos? Has she transformed back yet?_

 **The wheels on the bus go round and round...**

 _ **Not quite. Though...**_

 **Iris Heart:** Oh, there you are. Ekiro268, correct?

 _Neptune, I need your help now! And yes, that's my name, Madam Goddess..._

 ***A few seconds passes***

 _ **...You know, we think she's too busy either playing a game or exploring this place still...**_

 _[Insert blinking outline of Co-author here]_

 _ **...Also, we wonder if he's got Run specialized...then again, you can't really do that...**_

 **Iris Heart:** Well, that was disappointing.

 _ **To be fair, though, we think we've dragged this...joke or whatever way too long. It's the end of the chapter, so...**_

 **Iris Heart:** Ah. It does take energy to be in this form, so...before I go, I should at least take over for the author and his...friend.

 _ **Be our guest. We'll help...from our new home at the moment, but we'll still help out.**_

 **Iris Heart:** Alright. It seems that this chapter has ended.

 _ **We do want to point out just in case that, yes, this is a crossover between HDN and SW, and yes, there will actually be Neuroi involved. Arfoire already seems to have some of their powers, so it's possible for other things to happen. Also, we do know that we still have three more Witches to get in here, but one will be coming in this arc. So please don't fret if you happen to be.**_

 **Iris Heart:** Do whatever you guys do for this story and let the author know what your thoughts were on the chapter as well as if there are any mistakes.

 _ **We're Lionelis the current globe, and for Dilnos521 and Ekiro268…**_

 **Iris Heart:** We thank you, the readers, for reading, and hope to see you guys in the next chapter. Now, to go try finding the other author… ***leaves***


	11. Land of Black Regality

_*Rocking back and forth in the corner* There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like-_

 **Neptune:** Hey-a! I'm finally here!

 _EEEKKK, DEMON! *Holds out crucifix* BEGONE YOU DEMON!_

 _ **Oh. Took ya long enough, Neptune.**_

 **Neptune:** *notes their current positions and state* ...Wow, what happened to you three?

 ** _Well, Ekiro268 over here called for you last time and...well..._**

 **Neptune:** Oh, that? I think I heard it and was about to go see what was going on, but…

 _ **But…?**_

 **Neptune:** Well, I was a little busy trying to look around the data. Also, I found an enemy type that was being developed for the story.

 _ **Enemy type?**_

 **Neptune:** Yepperoni! Hmm...let's see...here, Nuptup!

 ***A Neuroified Dogoo bounces right in.***

 ** _...Hang on, how did you even get that out and over here? Our creator was still working on it! Also, Nuptup?_**

 **Neptune:** Oh, just found a way… *whistles nonchalantly*

 ** _Well, better get this chapter started...hello, and welcome to this chapter. Today, we are going to be handling...let's see here...Team Neptune actually going to Lastation._**

 **Neptune:** Hey, that's the team I'm on!

 _ **...Yeah, you are...do we even want to know why you don't...?**_

 **Neptune:** Nope! Probably.

 _ **...Noted. Welp, with the authors out of commission, time to handle reviews:**_

 _ **...Welp, there's not really anything to respond to...eh-heh...then again, we've been getting confused on which chapter we should be on given we have a Chapter 0, so...anyways, we will at least say that we want to welcome any readers reading this chapter right now. Well, we in general...the other two are indisposed right now...**_

 ** _And now, with no more delays...let's see them going to Lastation. We're going to be handling something in the meantime...now, just have to fish out the contact information from our position and...got it! Now, contacting...ah. Hello. This is Lionelis...the core? We have an issue right now and it concerns your author. Do you mind leaving your notes for now and coming over?..._**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 10: Land of Black Regality**

"Cool!" Neptune said as we stood at the docks for the Sky Bridge about two days later. "It looks so cool if you just look below!"

"I don't want to..." I said hesitantly as I looked over the railing and saw a large expanse of sky below us. I then fixed my gaze to be straight ahead. "Any clues why these islands are even floating anyways?"

"Neato!" Peashy added from atop my shoulders.

"I didn't realize the landmasses here floated in this dimension..." Plutia included.

"Don't think about it too much, Rosalina," IF told me. "Anyways, we got everything?"

"Healing items, check," Compa called out as she was checking our party inventory via her phone. "Es-Pee recovery items, check. Revivals, check."

"Hey, maybe I could jump all the way over to the other side!" Neptune called out. "You know, go all 'yah' and 'yahoo'!"

"Yeah, why don't you slap on some overalls and step on a mushroom-shaped enemy while you're at it?" IF remarked dryly.

"Overalls...don't have any, sorry," Compa said as she looked for said item. "We should go back and see about buying some-"

The brunette turned to face the nurse-in-training. "I didn't mean that we literally needed them in our inventory, Compa!"

"Besides," Neptune added. "You'd most likely get the green shirt."

IF spun to glare at the lilac-haired amnesiac. "And who said you gave out shirt colors?!"

"At least you get green," Hikari said as I looked at her. She was wearing a sailor shirt designed as a dress, to replace her original shirt. For some reason, she chose to keep the swimsuit underneath. Along with her socks and shoes.

 **Yeah, redshirts are more likely to die,** the voice in my head added.

I'm not sure how comfortable I am about a voice in my head...also, what does that even mean?

"Anyways, are we ready?" I concluded.

"Yeppie!" Compa replied.

"Yepperoni!" Neptune sounded in.

"Yep! Yep!" Peashy included, waving her right arm in the air.

"Ready," IF said.

"All set, Ro-Ro," Plutia added, bringing up the rear.

Seven of us traveling to a new landmass...let's see what we've got in store for us.

"Let's..." I started.

"GO!" Peashy concluded as her right arm came forward to point ahead.

And with that said, we took our first steps through the Sky Bridge and into Lastation.

XXXXXXXXXX

"This reminds me of that revolution we had in the industrial sector," Hikari remarked as (after some time to reach the main city of...Lastation...yeah, this is going to be a thing, huh?) we arrived in front of the Basilicom for the landmass. "So what's special about Lastation, IF?"

"They're Planeptune's main rival in the technology sector," IF clarified.

"How do you know so much, Iffy?" Neptune chose to ask.

"I've traveled places, alright?"

"Then why weren't you Level Sixty-Eight or something? That would have helped out a lot with that Arfoire chick."

IF looked peeved. "Listen, for your information-"

"Can we save the team squabbles for after we get inside, please?" I asked. Hearing a bit of it before we even got to the Basilicom was bad enough...

"Hey," an unfamiliar voice said.

"Huh?" I asked as we looked at the owner, a red-haired girl with really long hair tied into a ponytail with a white ribbon. For clothes, she had a short black shirt with short sleeves along with a white tank top over it. The tank top looked to have a brown belt at the bottom. Over those was a red and white short jacket with gold lining. For her lower body, she had a pair of matching shorts with a brown and gold belt holding it up. Her shoes also matched the uniform, and for accessories she had an orange and white pouch strapped to her right thigh, a blue scarf around her neck, and black fingerless gloves with thick white cuffs.

"Hello..." Hikari greeted as she slipped behind me.

"Hey," the girl said. "You need anything?"

"Now that you said something about it..." I started before Neptune chose to interrupt me.

"Hey-a!" she called out. "Can you point us to the Basilicom thingy, please?"

"Basilicom?" the girl replied. "Sure, I know where it is. I mean, I'm kinda new here right now, but I did see a building that reminded me of one. Let's see..." She gave us some directions and nodded her head. "That should be right."

Neptune nodded her head. "Hey, thanks for the directions. By the way...did you want to join our party?"

"Huh?" The girl shook her head. "Nah, I'm kinda busy at the moment. Real busy. I'll definitely see you girls later." She turned around and started to wander off.

"Hold up then!" Neptune held her hand in front of her. "Can you tell us your name? That way, it isn't as awkward as calling you 'Directions Girl'."

...That's a valid idea, Neptune. "Oh." The girl stopped and turned to face us again. "Sorry, forgot about that...I'm Falcom."

"Falcom, huh? I'm Neptune, and these are Compa, Iffy, Ro-Ro, Hikari, Plutie, and P-ko."

...Jeez, did you come up with that nickname for Peashy on your own? I'm kinda impressed. "Neptune? Alright. I'll catch you later." Falcom then walked off.

"Well, we have directions," IF concluded. "Let's use them to get to our destination."

XXXXXXXXX

Entering the Basilicom, it looked about the same as Planeptune, just with black with white stripes on the robes.

Is it just me, or do these guys just not show their faces?

"Hello~?" Neptune greeted as we entered and found someone in the back.

"We're looking for Lady Black Heart," Compa added. "Is she in right now?"

"Huh?" the person (it sounded to be a man) asked as he noticed us. "No. Even if she was, she's not taking visitors."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Black Heart's too busy nowadays to deal with trivial matters, what with monster attacks increasing each day." Man, this place must be getting hit hard by the monsters... "Anyways, why would she see you?"

"We're on an important mission to find something," Hikari replied. "Just in case, I'm Hikari, and these are Plutia, Peashy, Neptune, Compa, IF, and Rosalina."

The man didn't look pleased. "Nice to know, kid. Now, scram."

"Hold on a second!" I retorted. "We're just here to ask you a simple question. No need to get all shitty about it."

"Shitty...? Why, you...!" The man then calmed down as I gave him a rather powerful glare, giving off a deep gulp. "Okay, please don't eat me..." He then coughed. "What's your question?"

"What's your question...?" I was still glaring at him intensely.

"What's your question, ma'am?"

"That's better." I gave off a quick smile as I switched into a cutesy-like state. "Do you know where we can find a Key Fragment around here?"

"Key Fragment? Never heard of it...ma'am."

I blinked but kept up my act for a while longer. "Really? That's too bad."

"But Histy said that there was a Key Fragment on each landmass," Neptune said quickly. "You've gotta know where it is."

"Sorry, but no one, not even Black Heart herself, has even heard of this thing," the man told us in return. "Sounds like a superstition if you ask me."

"Are you positive?"

"Yeah. Now, if you will, get out of here."

"We're not going to get anything else out of him, Rosalina," IF replied before I relaxed and dropped my act for now. "If he doesn't have a clue, then we're going to have to search for it on our own."

XXXXXXXXXX

We had scarcely walked out of the Basilicom a minute ago before Neptune gave off an irritated groan and said, "Why didn't you question him like Ro-Ro did, Iffy?"

"I did not question him," I told the lilac-haired amnesiac. "I just glared at him really intensely."

"Followed by you acting all cute..." Plutia added.

"I think I saw a bit of your mom in that glare..." Hikari noted.

"I'm more worried about what that guy was saying," IF replied.

"What about?" Neptune asked. "He said that no one around here has heard of a Key Fragment, so we're back to square one! We all heard that!"

"Not that one. Did you notice how he referred to Lady Black Heart?"

How he...? "What are you talking about, Iffy?"

"He didn't seem to respect her. Everyone in a landmass would refer to their goddess using the title 'Lady', but he didn't even use it once. The closest thing to respect he gave was after Rosalina's staring contest, and that was only 'ma'am'." IF placed a hand in her chin, cupping it. "Something doesn't add up..."

"Maybe he just had a bad day and forgot his manners?" Compa tried.

"He really shouldn't have treated her like that..." Plural said, sounding sad about it. Or was it angry? Can't tell right now...

"Oh boy..." Peashy added.

"Okay, let's just think about this rationally," Hikari replied quickly. "We've got no leads on where to find the Key Fragment, so we either have to assume that Arfoire's gotten it already or nobody in Gamindustri knows about them."

"And I doubt Arfoire has no knowledge of them," I added. "If she's the one holding Histoire captive, then she's got to know about those."

"Which makes our job harder," IF concluded. She then sighed. "Well then...we've got nothing else to do, so let's see about finding a hotel and some work around here."

"Hotel?" I asked.

"Don't tell me you have no idea what a hotel is..."

"I do! It's just...they have hotels?"

IF sighed once more. "We can't just crash at Compa's right now, so until we get back to Planeptune we're going to have to rent a place to stay."

"Okay. So what's the going rate?"

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Hikari's POV_

"Comfy~!" Peashy cried out gleefully as she jumped onto the bed and laid on it a bit.

"Looks nice!" Plutia added as she joined Peashy.

"So how long do we need to wait for a job?" I asked IF as she was busy looking on one of her phones, a blue one. "Also...is this what a hotel around here usually look like?" It looked to have wallpaper that resembled the steel you'd see on the side of a ship, and the beds had black comforters and white sheets underneath. The pillows had black and blue stripes on them.

"Depends on the room you get," IF told me. "Thanks to Plutia being able to afford it, we got one of the nicer ones. I didn't really want to be sleeping next to a wood stove for a night, to be fair."

"Oh. That bad, huh?"

"We're trained to sleep in any condition humanly possible, right?" Rosalina asked me.

"Well, Roland-sama did use a blanket for a mattress sometimes, so I guess so."

"Unlike you two, we're not soldier girls," IF replied.

Rosalind raised a finger on her right hand. "Good point."

"I really hope Lady Black Heart's doing alright..." Compa said sadly.

"I'm sure she's doing fine, Compa. She's still presiding over the landmass...right?"

"Not sure there," I said. "But...maybe she's down on her luck..."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Noire's POV_

I effortlessly managed to finish off an encounter that had tried ambushing me, consisting of a few Dogoo at the edge of the landmass.

To get this job over with, I was utilizing my HDD form, so my stats were boosted.

"I think that's all of them..." I said calmly as I powered down my HDD form and brushed off the skirt of my dress. "Now to get back to the Basilicom..." I frowned.

It's been a while since the four of us CPUs had fought in Celestia, and after we forced Neptune off, the rest of us came down to our respective landmasses to recharge for our next battle there. However...when I came back down, I learned that I had been absent too long and that a company called Avenir had taken over the Basilicom, basically confining me with limitations. I wasn't going to just leave the people without their goddess, so I've taken to sneaking out when I got a chance. I've had some uninteresting times while out on my little...I guess you'd call them "expeditions", but a few days ago I ran into some boy with a rapier and no clue about healing items or even how this place works. Feeling like it was my duty to help him out, I bought him some supplies and then left. And that was after he asked me about "Neuroi" and saying that he was from some landmass called "Gallia" or something like that.

It's not like I was actually concerned about his well-being: he's got a rapier, so he's got to be a good fencer or something. Minus combat-smarts and healing spells, mind you.

Anyways, where was I? Oh right, heading back to the Basilicom.

XXXXXXXXXX

I stepped into the Basilicom calmly and was greeted by one of the members Avenir had brought in as a replacement for one of the original people.

"Black Heart, where have you been?" the man asked me.

"I've been out doing things," I told him.

"You're not supposed to be-"

"Out of my room without an escort, yeah, yeah." I waved off the matter; I've heard this a lot since I started my "expeditions".

"You know how valuable you are to this landmass! What if someone from Lowee marks you as a target and takes you out?"

"I've been in battle a lot. I doubt I can be killed that easily."

"Still, orders are orders."

I sighed. "Look, I'm a big girl, I can handle going outside to go kill a few monsters by myself. You people can't keep me confined here."

"But-"

I glared at him as hard as I could. "You people at Avenir may have more control of the Basilicom than I'd like, but I'm still the leader of this landmass. Don't forget it, alright?"

"...Y-yes...ma'am..."

Hmm? "That's a change of pace." I stopped staring at him so hard. "What made you suddenly use 'ma'am'? You don't even attach 'Lady' to my name normally."

"Well...some people came in here a while back asking to see you as well as something about a Key Fragment."

"And?"

"Well, we shooed them away. I mean, even if we did allow them to see you, you weren't in your room as proven when you walked calmly into the Basilicom."

I sighed. "Any names? I doubt that they'd come in for anything important like a Key Fragment and not leave a name."

"Yes, ma'am. Let's see...I think I remember two of their names."

"Which are?"

"Well...there was a Rosa...lina lady who did the same thing you did just now. I think that was her."

Rosalina? Hmph, maybe I can thank her for this brief moment of "ma'am" usage. "And the other?"

"Erm...it's Nep...Nepy...Neop..."

I sighed. "Let me guess, it's Neptune?"

"Erm, yeah. Sorry, but I can't really say it that well."

"How hard is it to say it?"

"Well, it's hard for me!" He then quickly added, "Ma'am."

"Anyways, I'll handle it tomorrow, so I guess...just relax or something."

"Yes, ma'am."

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Hikari's POV_

The next day, we woke up and prepared for the day. According to what IF found out yesterday, there was someone looking for help. She quickly accepted the job and told us to be ready to go at nine.

Something that was easier said than done. Neptune and Plutia wanted to sleep in, so Compa resorted to finding a way to get them up. She ended up with a black eye from Neptune, which was easily fixed up. We were about to despair over how to get them up without coming to bodily harm when we started hearing someone shouting for Plutia to get up. This got both of them up almost instantly.

According to a later explanation from Plutia, she had recorded someone named Noire's voice for an alarm, citing that it was one of the few things that woke her up. Neptune only said that she was surprised that she heard someone new in the room, so she woke up to try greeting them.

"So what's the plan?" I asked as I was busy checking my rifle.

"We're going to help out someone," IF told me. "Our client needed some extermination done, and I just so happened to have gotten the job for us. So we're going to go over and see what she needs done."

"Is this going to be a boring side quest?" Neptune asked.

"So what if it is? We get extra cash and some experience, right?"

"I don't know, Iffy," Plutia added. "It sounds like a lot of hard work..."

"Doesn't hurt to help someone out in need," I replied.

"I might have to agree with IF," Rosalina included as she was checking her gun. Her sword was already slung on her back. "I don't really want to handle a job without looking around at least, but to be fair this is a good way to get some experience. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to see what our new teammates can do."

"Oh, right!" Compa said quickly. "What do you and Pea-Pea do, Plutie?" If I recall correctly, she had asked Plutia about calling her that, which was greeted with a strong confirmation.

"Well, I can heal..." Plutia replied.

"How about we wait until we enter a battle and you can show us?" IF added. "That way, we can see your weapons as well."

"I'm already armed!" Peashy cried out as she waved her left arm in the air.

"Really?" I asked. "What do you use?"

"These!" She wiggled her left hand a bit, indicating her cat paws.

"...The gloves?" Neptune asked. "Aren't those for show?"

"No!" Peashy added quickly. "They're my weapons! Kitty paws!"

Rosalina and I looked at each other as I slung the rifle onto my back.

"Do I want to...?" my friend started.

"Maybe not..." I replied. To Peashy, I added, "If those are your weapons, then at least you're ready for anything."

"We've got to get there in a few minutes, so let's get going," IF told us.

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _You called, Lio?_

 ** _Ah. Perfect timing. We just got done with the chapter for now._**

 **Neptune:** And I managed to hear a song for all fifty states and their capitals as well as one for all the countries on Earth.

 ** _..._**

 _First off: Is that Neptune? *notices the authors* Second: Why do Ekiro and Dilnos look traumatised? And thirdly: What the hell happened to you?_

 _ **...Long story...anyways, better introduce yourself really quick while we're not being spun around for amusement here. *Slows to a stop after a previous spin***_

 _Right...hello, my name is Kirin-Zero-Two-Six-Eight-One, the personal AI of Ekuro in a RWBY series called "Another day in Remnant", but most people call me Kirino for obvious reasons, and the one rocking back and forth there is my creator, Ekiro268..._

 ** _About right...now...Neptune?_**

 **Neptune:** Right! Time to spin the globe! ***Proceeds to spin Lionelis around***

 _ **Not that!**_

 **Neptune:** ***Turns her attention to the AI*** Anyways...Kirino, right? Do you mind if I call you Ki-No?

 _...Why do I have a sudden feeling of regret coming here...?_

 _ **Welcome to the club now!**_

 _I hate you so much right now…Lio, baka..._

 **Neptune:** Hmm...well, sounds like you two might be...you know...

 _ **...We don't follow...or even track you right now...when are you going to stop us?**_

 **Neptune:** ***Ignoring Lionelis' comment*** Hey, this is a fanfic, right? There's gotta be a pairing somewhere~.

 _P-p-pairing?!_

 ** _Don't get her started or we swear when we're out of here, Mister Author will personally take your pudding collection away from- *Neptune stops Lionelis with one finger. Hard.* ...Well, thanks...now, how do we get them fixed?_**

 _You asked me to come all the way here for this? *points to the traumatised authors*_

 ** _Hey, be glad Iris Heart didn't turn you into a stinking AI piñata!_**

 _I'm a hologram housed in a data chip. I doubt such a thing would happen..._

 ** _Fine: she'll use you like a floppy disc._**

 _Oh, you want to start this right now, you floating red globe?!_

 **Neptune:** Okay, we don't need a lovers' spat in here right now...

 ** _(With Kirino) WE ARE NOT LOVERS!_**

 _(With Lionelis) WE ARE NOT LOVERS!_

 **Neptune:** Well, you two are sounding like you've been married a long time…

 ** _So, Kirino?_**

 _Ignoring what just happened...the method to fix the authors isn't really that difficult, just a small amount of electricity…*tases Dilnos521 and Ekiro268* and that should bring them back to normal..._

 _GAH, WHAT THE HELL!?_

 **Yeeart!**

 ** _...We're pretty sure you have not been able to see that yet, Mister Author…Also, how much is a "small amount"?_**

 _About...40,000 Volts?_

 **...Okay, what happened?**

 _*Checks himself* Ah, I'M ALIVE!_

 _And he's overreacting again..._

 _Huh? Kirino?_

 **When did you get here?**

 _Lio, the atlas globe, here "called" me over from Ekiro's Author Notes Section..._

 **...He did?**

 ** _Yes, we did. Also, it's not our fault she turned us into a spinning globe!_**

 _Well you 'did' ask Plutia to transform didn't you? You must've been prepared to risk your life..._

 ** _...Touché..._**

 **So...where are we exactly in this chapter?**

 _ **We reached the end of the chapter.**_

 **Oh...well, anyways, read, respond, and let us know what you thought of this.**

 **This is Dilnos521…**

 _ **...Lionelis, currently a globe...**_

 **Neptune:** I'm Neptune, of course~!

 _Kirino the AI..._

 _And this is Ekiro268, I'll be booking in a psychiatrist...and checking up on my "purity levels"..._

 **...Wait, what?**

 ** _Anyways, thanks for reading this far, and we'll see you guys in the next chapter!_**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Author's Extra Notes**

 **I'm going to be implementing this section for any notes I want or need to add just before updates or publications occur without having to disturb the notes (at least, in the case of me working with others for these), but I have some news: I have started up a tourney on Super Smash Brothers Wii U for any members of the FanFicCollective, their friends, readers, and betas...well, pretty much anyone. If you're interested, check out the information on it for my profile page and let me know via PM if you want to join or have any questions: I have a password for it because I want to try limiting the people that I want to join...also, there's not a lot of room, though a hundred is a high number.**

 **Thanks, and be on the lookout for more notes like this in the future if I need to or want to say something outside the notes.**


	12. Chian's First Request

**Hello, and welcome to the next exciting episode of _Strike_ -wait, wrong story.**

 _It's a chapter...not an episode…_

 ** _We think he's a bit excited about something..._**

 _It better not be because of me being here..._

 **What? No! I mean, while I am actually glad that we've got four commenters here at the same time, I'm more excited about this part!**

 _About what part?_

 **Well, there's Plutia and Peashy using HDD Mode for the first time in the story, there's a return visit, and...it's right before Noire comes into the picture!**

 ** _We think people want to see Neuroi and other Witches coming into the picture now...not a fourth goddess…_**

 _But...there already is a fourth godde- OI, GET OFF ME, LIO!_

 **Lio?**

 ** _Hey, we're part of the Anti-Spoiler Squadron._**

 **...You are the A.S.S.!**

 ** _Hey! What did we say about the acronym?_**

 _Why even create it to begin with…?_

 **What, the acronym or the group?**

 _Both, you idiot!_

 _I tried asking myself that one too, Kirino…"because they can" is my only answer..._

 _ **We blame the CPUs, specifically Blanc, more...well, not as much as the author himself...**_

 **Hey! *clears throat* Anyways, on to the reviews:**

 _TTKDagwon (Guest)_ **: Yeah, as I believe I've said before, this is going to be similar to the game. However, I won't be going the same route seeing as there is still the issue of Neuroi to tackle (hopefully you know what I refer to, but just in case...think a bit like an Aparoid from** _Star Fox: Assault_ **, only not bug-like and at war with humanity in an alternate version of our world in the midst of the 1940s. Google it for more specifc details if need be). In fact...I will say this much: Neuroification will occur to select enemies, but I will have rules for what can and can't be. So for instance a Dogoo can be Neuroified but a Pixelvader might not. Definitely will get dicey if any bosses are able to undergo it, though...apart from that, thanks for the review.**

 **Well, there's that.**

 **...Should we just get to the chapter now? I feel like I already spoiled some things before…**

 _ **All in favor?**_

 _...Aye?_

 _OBJECTION! *Plays "Pursuit ~ Cornered" in background*_

 _...I'll deal with her, move along, nothing to see here..._

 **Well, let's just cut to the chapter before we end up in a Phoenix Wright courtroom.**

 _ **On it! SNIP!**_

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 11: Chian's First Request**

 _Rosalina's POV_

"This place sure is busy," Compa noted as we wandered through the streets of Lastation. There seemed to be a lot of people out and about at the moment.

"Hey, who are we looking for anyways?" Neptune asked.

"We're looking for our client," IF told her. "Now quiet and help us look."

I looked around a bit. Well, as much as I could: Peashy evidently chose to use me as a sort of steed at the moment, riding on my shoulders yet again. To be fair, though: she's rather small, so anyone could bump into her on the ground. Soon, I spotted someone who seemed to be looking for someone, a woman. She seemed to be wearing a red suit of some kind, a bit like one a mechanic would wear when working. She also had a pair of goggles on top of her head, and I could make out a small white bandage on her left cheek as well as a white scarf tied around her neck and blue hair.

"Is that her over there?" I asked.

"Who?" IF asked. I pointed at the person I spotted. "Hopefully. She seems to be in a relatively calm spot." That was true: she was in an empty corner of the area, with scarce travelers. "Come on then." She then lead us to the woman. "Hey there, are you the one asking for a request?"

"Yeah," she said, gold-colored eyes looking at us. "So you're the help? Can't complain. Anyways, my name's Chian of Passe."

"IF. These are Rosalina, Neptune, Compa, Plutia, Peashy, and my personal partner Hikari."

"Hey, why do you have a personal partner?" Neptune asked quickly.

"Because I found Hikari while out on a mission. I asked her about joining my party at the time, and she agreed. Once I armed her with a weapon." She then glared at the lilac-haired amnesiac. "What, you'd think I just bump into her while in the cave?"

"Maybe? I mean, you did crash into me, so..."

"Uh, the request?" I said.

"Hmm?" IF asked as she remembered our current situation. "Ah, right. Chian, what is it you wanted us to do?"

"Right," Chain began. "We've been getting heavy monster attacks along one of our trade routes. My current helper is doing what he can, but there seems to be a lot more than expected."

"So why not establish a new path?" I asked.

"Could try that, but it'd take longer, and we're already in pretty deep around here with Avenir and all."

"Wait, Avenir?"

"Yeah. They're a big corporation that pretty much have a monopoly around here. Their competition are having a hard time keeping up, myself included."

"Oh."

"Just point us there and we'll handle it," IF told her. "We've got more than enough people to take care of it."

"In that case, you'll need to go to West Wind Valley. Our problem trade route's around there. I do wish you luck."

"Alright. We'll handle this quick."

XXXXXXXXXX

Heading over to our destination (which required IF, Compa, and myself to look up a map for it before the brunette got its location), I looked at the N-Gear as I was busy peeking at Plutia's and Peashy's equipment. True to Peashy's words, her cat-pawed gloves were her weapon. Plutia's was a teddy bear of sorts. Also, their costumes were referred to as "Indoor Clothes" and "Mr. Bee" (the former for Plutia and the latter for Peashy).

I made a mental note to figure out why they have an option for CPU Processors.

...Now that I think about it, Neptune and I also have that option. Maybe it has to do with transformations? I dunno, but I'm a bit afraid to look; not because I'm afraid but because...

...

...I don't know why...

"Are you alright, Ro-Ro?" Plutia asked me as she walked on my right side.

"Not sure," I told her. "I did notice that you and Peashy have something for Processors."

"Processors? Oh! You mean, the Ehch-Dee-Dee Mode!" Plutia's eyes lit up briefly. "No one else really let me actually use mine, though..."

"Why not?"

"They say it's because I'm not...myself when I transform."

I blinked. Maybe it sounds a bit like what happened to me. "Oh. I'd like to see it for myself before I say if I agree with them or not. I hope you don't mind if I do, though..."

"It's no problem. I can activate it on my own will, though. So can Pea-Pea."

"Speaking of seeing for yourself..." IF said as she pointed at a trio of weird box-like creatures with some wings, a sort of crown on each head, and a face that made me think of a bird. "We've got an encounter."

"An encounter?" Neptune said cheerfully as she summoned her weapon. "Alright! I wanna get some practice in Ehch-Dee-Dee-"

"Hold up a sec, Neptune!" I replied quickly. "We should let Plutia and Peashy show us what they can do."

"Oh, right." She dismissed her weapon.

"Anyways, we're going to run a particular strategy just in case. Since Compa, and Plutia from what I saw via En-Gear, can heal we don't need them both out at once. So Compa, you're going to team up with...I guess Peashy."

"Okay," Compa said simply as she readied her syringe.

"Plutia will be having Neptune as a back-up."

"Hey!" said girl complained. "I don't wanna be a back-up right now!"

"Too bad right now, Neptune. I'll take Hikari for now. Plutia, Peashy, and I will lead since they need to show us their moves, for lack of a better word, and I want to judge them myself."

"Aw, fine..." Neptune summoned her weapon again but waited.

As I watched Hikari ready her rifle and call out her familiar's features, I looked at the enemies, pulling out my N-Gear as I did so. Looking at the monster data section, I noticed that these things were called Cardbirds.

...Cardbirds? Couldn't they come up with a better name than that? I dunno, I think the term "Boxbird" is more intimidating than these things' names!

"I'll go first," I said as the information for the current battle materialized across my vision, readying my weapons and letting my wolf features out. I charged at one and performed a slash before I performed a Break attack I had called False Strike (in which I faked a slash before striking from a different direction) three times to lower two of their guard a fair amount.

"Ooh, ooh!" Peashy said excitedly as she hopped in place. "My turn, my turn!" She then stood still and, throwing her right arm into the air, jumped and called out. "Change, change!"

A flash of light later, and I was staring at...

...What am I even...?

Well, the easiest thing to do would be to describe what she _didn't_ look like: anything like the Peashy that was there a few seconds ago! The normal hair color she had was changed to a straight-on blond and reached past her shoulders. She was taller, too, and her breasts...

I'll come back to that in a bit. I'm still trying to figure that out...

Anyways, like Neptune and that form I changed into, she wore a bodysuit similar in design to ours with matching boots reaching up to her mid-thighs. There were some armor pieces that seemed to form what we had, being some winged structures floating next to her hips, some winged pieces behind her feet, some looking like a bird's head over her shoulders, and winged pieces near her head. For her wings, they looked like bird's wings. Plus, there was a choker around her neck.

And all of that were in a color scheme: I could see the main color being white, with traces of red, black, and yellow.

Not to mention the claws she seemed to now be packing, having yellow claws yet matching the color scheme.

Now, back to her...breasts...I still have no idea, but somehow it's not natural for a girl who looks like an eight-year-old (or however old she looks like) one second to be sporting gazongas like that! I mean, I'm glancing over at Hikari and-

...

She looks like she was a bit dazed. I swore I even saw some blood coming out from her nose a bit.

"Hikari, are you alright?" I asked.

"Huh?" Hikari asked as she blinked. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She then wiped the blood off her face and looked at it. "Huh, a nosebleed. That's odd..."

...I'm not going to respond.

"Tada!" the new Peashy called out.

"Good to see that," I told her. "You don't mind if I just call you 'Peashy' still, do you?"

"No problem, Ro-Ro!" She then charged at one of them and punched it using her claws. It took a bit, but she had it almost beaten.

"Is it my turn yet?" Plutia asked.

"Yeah," I told her as I checked. These Cardbirds must not be as developed as they should be, so it's safe for her to go. "Let's see what's the big deal."

"Okay...I can transform...right?" Plutia disappeared in a flash of light as well. Coming out of it, she looked...

Okay, you know Neptune's changes between human and HDD forms, right? Well, this is like it, but...

Her outfit seems more...revealing? Can't tell. I mean, hard to describe it, but...let's see...

Imagine a two-piece swimsuit, right? The lower piece was a bit like a bikini but more...revealing in the back. Her top piece was more like a...hey, voice? what would you call it?

 ** _We'd probably call it a bustier of some kind,_** the voice told me.

Ah, that might work. It looked like a bustier that was attached to the bikini-like item via six straps. I think they were straps. The point that must be made was that this doesn't look like Plutia. Just like Yellow Heart looks _nothing_ like Peashy.

As for the rest of her, her hair turned iris blue while her eyes were a slightly darker shade of magenta. She wore high heels, and her legs were covered by a long bit of thin armor, showing only some of her inner thighs and a small section of her outer thighs. Her arms were covered up to close to her shoulders and had an opening on the outer side of her arms. She also seemed to have a choker and earrings. Her color scheme seemed to be black with traces of magenta.

As far as armor pieces goes, she looked...again, I can't really describe it very well. Weird wings that looked to be almost crystal-like in shape, roundish shoulder pieces and U-shaped pieces floating at her hips. Her feet had some winged pieces.

"Let's enjoy this to the fullest~!" the new Plutia replied in a...seductive tone?

...I'm beginning to agree with her friends; this Plutia seems a lot harsher than the other one.

Though...

She readied her weapon, a weird sword of some kind, and looked at a weakened Cardbird, who somehow started getting terrified.

How could I tell? Well, for some reason, its eyes became O-shaped.

 ** _O_O?_** the voice asked, using some weird picture.

...Do I want to know?

"I'll show you a good time," Plutia said as she swung her sword at it, smacking it around a fair bit before it disappeared in a flash.

Terrified, its remaining comrades entered defensive positions, showing the same faces as their fallen friend.

"I've got it!" Peashy called out as she aimed at one and called out " **Guard Strike!** " She then punched her target so hard it exploded, making it disappear.

"I'll end this," Plutia added as she looked at the last opponent, flicking her hair back a bit. " **Fighting Viper!** " She then charged it from above and swung twice to make a trail of electricity that hung around behind the Cardbird, in the shape of a V. Immediately after the second strike, she flipped back and landed a fair bit away before she turned around and closed her eyes. The burst of energy from that lingering symbol ended the battle.

...I have no idea what to put down for a report card...

"So how was that, Ro-Ro?" Plutia asked.

"Erm...you two did...great, actually," I said quickly. "I mean, you both did well, but..."

"But?" She looked intrigued.

"...I don't want to be mean but...are you like that? All..." I struggled for a word to use for a bit. "Seductive?"

"Sure thing, Ro-Ro. I do love inflicting pain. But don't worry..." She floated over to me. "I only hurt those who cross me, want it, or deserve it. There's nothing to fear."

Actually...if you're like that...I think I'm really worried... "Just promise me that you're not going to be...having fun with us. Well, as long as we don't fall under one of those three categories you just listed..."

Plutia gave off a strange smile, like she was having a great thought in her head. "Oh, I can't promise, but...tell you what: let me see what you're truly capable of."

Truly capable of...? "Wha..."

"I can sense it, dear. You have a lot of power inside you, power about on par with a goddess. So let's see that bad girl."

I glanced down at the ground. "...I can't just call upon it again...I have no idea how."

Plutia blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well...the last time I used it, I was on the verge of death, so..."

"Hmm...maybe I should make you scream a bit..."

 ** _There's no need,_** the voice replied. **_Rosalina, if you ever need to use your core's potential, just focus and let it take control. The disc on your hip will take care of the rest._**

 _Okay..._ I said as I closed my eyes and felt my body disappear...to be replaced by my "other self".

Okay, this...feels weird...I think I'm having an out-of-body experience right now...

 ** _You can control it like you would your own,_** the voice added. **_Just...take it easy. We aren't at full power._**

Alright...take it easy...right...

Let's go for talking. Shouldn't be too hard...

"It seems like you have some nerves to make an idle threat like that," I said in a new voice.

...That's not what I wanted to say. The hell?

 ** _Oh, right, forgot to tell you: normally, a Neuroi core will enhance some negative emotion in you. For your father, it seemed to be anger. For you, we made you, well...more...confident?_**

 _How is that a bad thing?_ I asked. _Isn't being confident good?_

 ** _Not like this. You don't know this character, but there is an anime character in particular who goes from a rather innocent girl to a proud vampire. We're talking confidence bordering close to arrogance._**

...

Am I a back-seat driver then?

 ** _Not really. You may have a separate personality created by us, but you still have final say over things that you do in this form, and eventually you'll get used to it. For now, though, we want you to learn how to control your form changes. Plus, Plutia and Neptune seem to be the only ones right now who go through personality changes, so why not you?_**

Alright...as long as this doesn't...you know, alienate my friends or teammates...

 ** _Noted, Rosalina._**

Plutia looked at me carefully as she said, "You do look like you're a goddess...but the energy you're giving off is...different."

"I am powered by the energy of a Neuroi core," I said, getting used to this form more actively. "Goddesses around here rely on Shares, correct?"

"Yes. Normally, we wouldn't be able to transform here due to this place not being our home, but it seems that there's something around here that's allowing us to."

"Another playmate, right?" Peashy asked as she floated over to me now.

"I'm not a simple plaything, Peashy," I replied. "I'm a dangerous woman."

"Dangerous, huh? You've gotta be as strong as Neptuna, right?"

"Neptuna? I assume you mean Neptune. Maybe. I haven't really gone up against her."

"I'm feeling a little tired anyways," Plutia added as she gave off a sigh.

"Tired?"

"Yes. Using this form isn't free. After a while, we're forced to revert back to our human forms. We usually shift in and out between battles to keep the drain to a minimum and let us fight longer."

"I see. I will make note of that. But...I am...concerned about something..."

"Concerned?" IF asked me now. "About what?"

"I have no name for this form. The only name I have is Karai, and that is the name of Rosalina's familiar. In this state, I have none to call my title."

"So you want a name for that form? Not sure how to accommodate you there..."

"Hmm..." Compa began as she thought about it.

The others joined her.

"We could call her Rosalina Two," Neptune offered.

"That's stupid," IF told her. "She's nothing like Rosalina. No offense, ma'am."

"None taken," I said. "Though I'll remember that one, Iffy."

"Not you too..." IF blanched.

Some more thought.

"What about...Neuroi Heart?" Compa tried.

"Neuroi Heart?" Hikari asked.

"Yeah. Usually, a goddess has a color assigned to them. You know, Ladies Green Heart, White Heart, Black Heart, and Purple Heart. I don't think Ro-Ro's other form can be called Black Heart without getting people confused, and the other colors don't work. So why not use something unique about her?"

"The Neuroi core?" Hikari asked, blinking.

"Yeah. I mean, that's what it seems like, right?"

"True. She's giving off Neuroi-like energy. Maybe it fits."

"Neuroi Heart, huh?" I asked slowly. "I think it'll have to do."

"Alright," Plutia concluded. "I guess the four of us, Neppy included, should come together transformed and talk a bit more. Until then..." The newcomers disappeared in flashes of light, being replaced with their human selves.

"I'm hungry..." Plutia said slowly. You know, I think I just realized that Iris Heart didn't have Plutia's slow speech; I think I got so used to it I didn't think about it.

"My tummy's a little rumbly," Peashy agreed.

"Let's focus on killing some more monsters before we eat something," I said as I flicked on my weapons. "Unlike a goddess, my magic can last for a while. I can work on controlling my new body."

"Okay, I guess that'll work," IF said. "Compa, Nep, you two take Plutia's and Peashy's places for now."

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _I was just role-playing...it's harmless…_

 _So zapping me multiple times and almost burning down the Author Notes Section is harmless to you...?_

 ** _We'd hate to see what she does when she's pissed._**

 **Probably the same thing, just minus the burning and adding on a lot more zaps. And to us, probably.**

 _Hey, she's pissed all the time, especially if Lio is around._

 _B-baka!_

 **Anyways...hmm...not much to say except...well...yeah…**

 **Anything you guys, and Kirino, want to add?**

 ** _Not really..._**

 _I would like to say Plutia is one scary person?_

 _Why am I here…?_

 _Because you are, Kirino..._

 **We'll just chalk it up to "convenience", I guess.**

 _Hey, I almost lost my chastity because of what happened last two chapters ago!_

 _ **Join the club. We've been an atlas globe, and Mister Creator here spent some time being insane.**_

 _And that's why you should go to a psychiatrist, Dilnos, and a blacksmith for you, Lio..._

 **…**

 **Ooh! Can we pick out the weapon we want to become?**

 **NO!**

 _Lio, I think she meant by seeing the blacksmith to get you back into shape...literally..._

 **Why do we even need a blacksmith for that, anyways? She used some plastic holders or something. Also...can Neuroi cores be smelted?**

 _Only one way to find out…*Charges electricity*_

 _LET'S just leave it at that, alright? We don't want another casualty happening again anytime soon...which reminds me. Dilnos, you've still got to pay for the damage..._

 **Right...well...wait, what damage?**

 _The "Plutia incident" and my "roleplaying", idiot..._

 **Oh. I'm sure I'll deal with it. I did pay for this space, so I can just fix it up a bit.**

 _You sure? You've got to pay quite a lot to fix all the damages...plus insurance..._

 ** _That's simple. We just build a new set. And make it so that NOTHING CAN GO WRONG!_**

 _…_

 _..._

 **Uh...anyways…?**

 **That'll do for this chapter. Please read and respond and all that, and don't forget to leave a review if you liked it. I don't usually ask for a review, and this is still your choice, but it does help me with ideas as well as seeing what people liked and disliked about the chapter.**

 _Like the mistake with Hikari's familiar?_

 _ **That was sheer stupidity on the author's part. That, and the lack of the whole "making sure" stage.**_

 **A-anyways, this is Dilnos521...**

 _ **We are Lionelis...**_

 _Ekiro268 here!_

 _This is Kirino…and we'll see you in the next chapter...?_

 **…**

 ** _Did you really have to make it into an uncertainty?_**

 _I'm sorry but I haven't done this before! Lio, baka!_


	13. Godly Encounter

**Hmm...is this thing on?**

 _Mate, we're on a bloody screen..._

 **Gotta freshen up the intros, alright?**

 _ **You're doing a fine job of it. Definitely going the right way for a smacked bottom.**_

 _I'm sorry, what?_

 **...We'll just move on now…**

 **Hello, and welcome to another chapter of this story. Let's see...last time Plutia and Peashy transformed for the first time in-story.**

 _ **The slight horror…**_

 _I had a sudden "Vietnam Flashback"..._

 **And we have a name for Rosalina's other self. So...anything else?**

 _Is Rosalina's other self named "Red Ranger"?_

 **...Erm... _Henshin_.**

 _ **No, that's Viewtiful Joe.**_

 **No, that's "Henshin-a-go-go, baby".**

 _ **Does it matter?**_

 **It kinda does...**

 _Can we get to the point already?_

 **Oh, right! But first...reviews!**

 _kineke13_ **: Well, I think I said it before, but if you read the "trailers" then you have an idea of who the helper is. If not, then that detail will be revealed later on in the arc. As for Neuroi Heart...I am trying to base her personality on Inner Moka from** _Rosario + Vampire_ **, within reason, but it's a good thing you're noting the unnaturalness. I might need to find some instances of the personality in question for reference, but other than that, let's see...Iris Heart might make most sane people a little uneasy. My partner here might still have nightmares about it. Speaking of, must check with him, see if he recalled what happened to him at the time. And...not yet. Given my time in the UC system for my proposed major, I want to find a good chance to watch it uninterrupted. So far, not sure when that will be, but I will be getting going on it now that at least twelve episodes are up (I think there's supposed to be a movie for it as the thirteenth episode, if I recall what a person I chat with via Steam told me correctly). Other than that, thanks for the review.**

 **...And that's it for reviews. Anything to declare before we get going?**

 _Uh…_

 _STRAIGHT TO THE POINT!_

 **Aah! Lio!**

 _ **Really, again? We're not the frigging Nostalgia Critic!**_

 **Just cut it!**

 ** _Fine! RIP!_**

 **That's ripping to the point!**

 **[Notes from 4/1/17: I do apologize for the wait. I had been on a break between quarters here, so I had been taking my time relaxing before I had to prepare to get back into gear. I'm not sure what my schedule will look like after a while with the classes I have lined up, but I will keep you guys updated as I go. There is also going to be another announcement at the end of the closing notes.]**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 12: Godly Encounter**

 _Noire's POV_

Man, how hard is it to find and track down Neptune? I mean, I swore she went this way with her group, so she can't have left the area.

I'm at least glad I've been able to beat these enemies with ease. Even without resorting to HDD Mode.

To be fair, I was close to Level 15, so maybe that's why.

Still, I'm a bit worried. Some of these monsters seemed to become a lot more...aggressive. There was a condition that may affect a monster called Viral Mode (or something; I can't tell you the exact answer right now!), and I've been seeing that quite a bit.

Glad I have some Nep Bulls, though I think Neptune's weird for wanting to make a drink like this. Oh well, at least it helps me...even if it's not the best-tasting.

A-and I'm not drinking it because it's related to Neptune or anything! I really needed to get healed, so there.

"Man," I said tiredly as I found a rock and rested my back against it, sliding onto my rear. "Why did I even bother..." I then shook my head. "Wait, I came to fight Neptune. I can't forget that. Besides, it's preferable to being stuck under surveillance at the Basilicom..."

"...I'm tired..." I heard Neptune's voice say as I heard footsteps. I held my breath and listened closely.

"I thought you said you had infinite stamina," a new voice replied, like she was mocking Neptune or something.

"I do, but Ro-Ro's too busy running faster than me! I can't handle it!"

"I'm running at a normal speed," a second new voice said. She sounded like she was taking some slow breaths. "You're the one who decided to challenge me to a foot race anyways."

"Yeah, but I thought you weren't that fast!"

"...We...we're here..." a third voice, extremely tired, said before I heard a thump on the ground. "I'm...tired...Nep-Nep..."

"You run too fast, Ro-Ro," a fourth voice added. "Hikie, Peashy, Compa, and I were busy taking it nice and easy. Well, I was, at least." This voice sounded like the person was being careful to make her words easily understood.

"Again!" a younger girl's voice called out. "Again!"

"Oh," the second voice said. "I forgot that you were up there, Peashy."

"You put most Witches to shame with your unenhanced speed," a sixth voice said after a while. "Please don't just run next time...I don't want to get lost around here..."

"I'm hungry," Neptune said quickly.

"I've got pudding, Nep-Nep," the third voice told her. "Give me a second to get them out."

"Pudding?" I then swore I heard Neptune jump up and down mentally (probably because I can actually imagine her getting hyped up for pudding). "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

"Give her a moment, Neptune," the second voice told her.

I thought of my plan of attack. I don't exactly enjoy standing here while they slack off, so their guard must be down. But I'm not sure if I can consider "Rosalina" a huge threat at the moment. I mean, someone who can get a normally-disrespectful person to call me "ma'am", even if only for a bit, then she's got to be something.

But I also can't stay here. At some point, they're going to check their area and find me. Though I don't exactly like six- or seven-to-one battles. I mean, I should be able to handle it if I get considered a boss character to them, but...

Attack now and lose epically or wait and be found?

XXXXXXXXXX

 _Rosalina's POV_

As Compa was busy passing out pudding cups to everyone, I was busy looking around with my eyes. We had handled some monster a few minutes ago (after what Neptune referred to as "grinding"), so we were resting up before we headed back to report to Chian. I had also taken the chance to revert back to my normal self to rest up for emergencies about ten minutes ago.

"Anything bad?" Hikari asked me, holding her snack.

"Nothing," I told her. "That monster...what was it called?"

"A Hraesvelgr," Compa told me.

"However you pronounce that name, it seems like it's the only major threat around here. I guess we're in the clear."

"I see," Hikari said. "Still bites that we couldn't talk to Lady Black Heart."

"That man at the Basilicom sure didn't give much respect to her."

"I'm sure we'll be able to talk to her."

"Yeah. We need to find that Key Fragment around here if we're going to rescue Histoire."

"Agreed. I wonder what she actually looks like..."

Letting my familiar reveal itself and using my magic, my aura sense then picked up on something behind a rock. "Huh?"

"What is it, Rosalina?" IF asked as the others looked at me.

"I feel a presence around here." I looked at the lone rock around the area and watched as a flash of light appeared from behind it. Soon, a woman wearing a black suit like Neptune's HDD mode floated onto the top of the rock. The suit had white detailing, particularly a white area around her cleavage. It also seemed to give off more of a mechanical feel than any other forms I've seen. Her hair was pure white, reminding me of an old friend and teammate of my parents', and going a fair distance past her shoulders. It looked like the sides of her hair above her eyes seemed to poke outward, and her bangs caressed her face rather well. She was also armed with a large sword.

Her armor pieces looked mechanical as well, with two turret-shaped ones near her hips, a strange circular piece around her shoulders, six triangular-looking pieces forming wings, a headpiece that looked more complicated than Neptune's HDD mode's, and some pieces looking like...actually, I don't know, but they were floating behind her feet.

"I'm surprised you found me so easily, child," the woman said as she landed gently. "However, you aren't who I'm looking for."

"Then who are you looking for?" I asked as I readied my blaster and aimed it at the newcomer.

"That's none of your business."

"None of my business?"

"Are you Lady Black Heart?" Hikari asked, her right hand on the butt of her rifle.

"Yes, child," the woman, now identified as Black Heart, replied. "I am Black Heart, goddess of Lastation."

"Oh, that's a real relief," Neptune decided to say. "Listen, we're kinda looking for a Key Fragment, so do you happen to know where we could find a tough monster or even where it can be..." She then watched as Black Heart charged at her, stopping at enough of a distance for her large sword's tip to be under her chin. "Nepu..."

...Nepu? Did she just make that word up on the spot or something? "I challenge you, Neptune."

"Challenge me? To what?" A glint of an idea appeared in her eyes. "Oh, you want a video game challenge? Well, I'm a good Detris player, so-"

"Not that kind of challenge! I forget how naive you are in that form. Anyways, just transform and fight me."

Plutia and Peashy looked like they knew Black Heart and were about to say something when I looked at them and said, "We'll accept the challenge along with Neptune."

"You?" Black Heart asked me as she got a good look at me. "I was not aware that a human could compete with a goddess any time these days."

"I'm...a different case...besides, you said that Neptune was naive in her current form. How do you know she has another form?"

Black Heart smirked. "I'll tell you if you can beat me. But know that I won't lose that easily."

"Alright," I looked at Neptune. "Transform." To the others, I added, "Plutia, you and Peashy will be taking lead with me. Neptune, you're backing me up. Compa, you cover Peashy, and Hikari covers Plutia. IF, you sit out for now."

"Can we transform as well?" Plutia asked.

"Sure thing. I do want to say something to your other self once you do, though."

"Okay."

The transformation-capable girls entered their HDD modes, and I soon looked at Iris Heart. "Don't do anything...too rough to Lady Black Heart. We need information from her, and she might not give it if she's traumatized."

"Don't worry, Ro-Ro," Iris Heart told me. "No playtime for me. How boring...but I can enjoy beating her senseless still."

"We'll beat you and make you tell us what we want to know," Neptune added.

"Right." I concluded. "I'm ready for this!" I then transformed into Neuroi Heart and looked at our opponent. "Program execution successful."

"Another goddess?" Black Heart asked in disbelief before shaking her head. "I don't have time to wonder about it. Let me show you how a goddess fights."

"I'll make the first move," I called out as I flicked my weapons active. I then charged at her. " **Ryūsei Slash!** " I swung my right fist at her, intending to land a hit. However, Black Heart dodged the attack and looked at me.

"I'm not a Dogoo or a Purr4." She then swung her sword into my stomach, and I felt myself flying back.

 ** _Damn, that hurts…_** the voice, or I guess I could call it the core, said as I slammed into the ground back first. My physical body barely contained a cry of pain, settling for a grunt.

 _Try a different plan…_ I told…it. I don't know whether it's a boy or girl!

"I'll make this one quick," Black Heart added as she flew to where I landed as I was recovering from my stomach injury. "Take this!" She swung her sword down on me but was blocked by Iris Heart. "What?"

"If anyone is going to make people suffer," she said, "I'll be the one to do so."

"Why you…"

" **Guard Strike!** " Yellow Heart called out as she slammed into the enemy in her right side, sending her flying away.

"Good one, Pea-Pea," Iris Heart told her. "Ro-Ro, get up while she's disoriented."

"Right…" I said as I got onto my feet. I then focused on floating and got an inch off the ground. _At least I can still do this. I think._

"What's your current status?"

"Some damage to my stomach, but nothing major."

"What the hell was that for?" Black Heart asked as she steadied herself. "It was a one-on-one duel at that point."

"Correction: it's a three-on-one," Iris Heart told her.

"Yeah, yeah. Still isn't going to make a difference. **Venom Slicer!** " She flew at us, Yellow Heart getting in front of Iris Heart and taking the hit. Five hits, it seemed.

"Peashy!" I called out as I saw that she had the Poison effect (I had been spending some time studying the rules around here, mind you). I then reached for my pocket but realized that I wasn't currently...well, my true self. "Dammit."

"Let me handle that really quick!" Neptune told me. "I can show you how!"

"How?"

"I've got it," Iris Heart told us as she reached behind her back and pulled out a bottle of Detoxin. "Pea-Pea, catch." She then tossed it to Yellow Heart before going after Black Heart. "I'm going to enjoy hurting you so much..."

"Oh yeah?" Black Heart asked as she blocked an attack and forced her opponent back. "I think I should be the one telling you that."

"Oh? Do tell..."

"Because...I'm going to make you faint!" Black Heart then charged at Iris Heart and called out, " **Lace Ribbon!** " She then knocked her into the air before jumping up and delivering two swift kicks. She then went up again and slashed at her twice before landing, making Iris Heart fall down onto her chest hard. I then watched as she reverted back to Plutia in a flash of light. "Told you."

I looked at the status of everyone in my eyesight and saw that Plutia's was darkened for her portrait, with her health at zero.

"Plutie!" Yellow Heart cried out before she floated in front of her, in a defensive position. "Meanie! You hurt Plutie!"

For some reason, my muscles tensed up, but it wasn't in shock. Rather...it felt like it was in...rage?

"You..." I said as I looked at Black Heart.

"She's not dead yet, nimrod," the opposing goddess told me. "She's just unconscious. A simple Life Fragment or some time to rest will get her back on her feet...provided you and whoever she is..." She pointed to Yellow Heart. "...don't fall as well. After all, only three people can fight in a battle at a time, and in order to switch the command must be given by a conscious member, and only to their partner."

"She's right," Compa said as she looked at Hikari. "Without Plutia to give the order to switch, you can't use Hikari."

"..." I only uttered as I thought about it a bit. If Plutia is down, then we only have a strategy to use four people for instead of six, with two of those four being able to be out at a time. Unless we got Plutia back on her feet...Well, if I had known that, I would have used Hikari first instead of her; at least she could stay out of Black Heart's range with her weapon.

"Besides, I'm not done yet!" Black Heart added. "You know, I was going to originally fight Neptune by herself, but I guess you'll do."

"Oh really now?" I looked at her, all rage gone for the moment. "What makes you think that you can beat me?"

"Well, you're already injured, for starters."

"So are you. We're even still."

"I'm a good amount of levels ahead of you, and you seem like you barely know how to fight like that."

"Oh really?" I smirked. "Then would you like to test that out?"

"Of course."

"Peashy, back off for now. I'll handle this quickly." I then charged at Black Heart once more and swung my blade at her chest, making her dodge again as I went forward.

"That trick again?" She went for a knee, but I reacted by raising my left arm, making her attack hit it hard. She then backed off in pain. "Ow! That hurts! I'm not immune to slamming knees into metal."

"Your fault, then." I then charged up some red aura around the blade and swung it ahead of me horizontally to the right, calling out, " **Aura Slash!** "

Black Heart soon received a crescent-shaped burst of red aura to her chest, sending her back a fair bit. "Damn…that was uncalled for!"

 _Did I learn a new technique or something?_ I added mentally.

 ** _Let us check really quick…_** the core said to me. **_…I guess so. It seemed you got that from a level-up earlier in the area. Level…11 or so._**

 _That's good to know._

 ** _I can only check when you got access to it, though. I can't learn its stats unless you look on that N-Gear of yours._**

 _…Okay?_

"Stop spacing out, Rosalina!" IF called out quickly.

"Huh?" I asked as I looked ahead and saw a Black Heart-shaped blur coming right for me. "Not so fast!" I hastily blocked the weapon with the blade and aimed my left arm at her chest, firing a shot point-blank. This managed to get her off me, and soon she slammed into the ground back first, getting onto her feet slowly while panting.

"Damn…thought I had that…" Black Heart said as she looked at me. "You're…not too bad, I guess…not that I'm saying you're better or anything…"

"That's enough," Neptune said as she stepped in front of me. "We beat you, so tell us what you promised."

Black Heart looked at her and chuckled weakly. "I said that I would, but…I don't have time right now. I'm leaving." She then used her wings to float off the ground and fly off.

"After her, you guys!" IF told us.

I started going after her before I felt a sudden drain of energy.

 _What's going on?_ I asked the core.

 ** _You're too exhausted to hold this form,_** it informed me. **_You've been training your time in this form for a while. I could barely power it for this battle. I'm sorry…_**

I saw a flash of light before I found myself falling to the ground chest first. Due to the speed I had started my flight, I slid a good distance before coming to a stop and looking up at the retreating goddess.

"Damn…" I said.

"Why'd you four revert back to your normal state?" IF asked. "Well, I guess Plutia I could understand due to being unable to fight, but..."

"I'm too tired…" Plutia said in her slow voice as she was coming to.

"Nap time…?" Peashy tried.

"No energy left," I said.

"I'm hungry," Neptune added.

IF sighed. "Well, hopefully you're not too injured, Rosalina."

"Yeah…" I said as I got onto my knees and looked down. My clothes looked to be roughed up, and my shirt had received a bit of a tear across my chest, showing a bit of my green bra. "Any spare clothes?"

"Oh dear," Compa said as she came over and looked at the damages. "Maybe we can fix that a bit."

"With what?"

"Hmm…" She gave it some thought before she snapped her fingers and slid off her sleeves (I didn't know that she could have just taken them off) before IF handed me her jacket. "Iffy?"

"Use this," IF told me. "I can go without a coat for now. I will need the phones, though."

"Right," I said as I put the jacket on and buttoned it up. "Thanks, IF."

"After we get done here, let's see if Chian has a sewing kit or something. Worse comes to worse, we'll just buy you a new outfit. Hope you like Lastation colors, though."

"I don't think I have much of a choice..." I think I was starting to get attached to my clothes...

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **...Remind me to work with Kirino on pacing...**

 _Reminded…_

 _Hey, my pacing is quite fine, baka!_

 _ **So...should we stick it under the "Reminders", the "Pacing", the "Rap Sheet", or the "Misc."?**_

 _...Why not all of them?_

 _ **Too much of a hassle...**_

 _…_

 _...So why even ask in the first place?_

 _ **Hey, the making of separate notes is the problem here!**_

 **Anyways...that's the end of the chapter. Speaking of, any thoughts from you guys?**

 _ **Plutia got hurt...**_

 _Isn't that a good thing?_

 **Given the combat disadvantage that would have left them had Rosalina not finished the fight as a one-on-one with Noire...**

 _No, I meant Plutia getting hurt as a good thing..._

 _ **Exactly.**_

 _Wot? (Translation: What?)_

 **Apart from Plutia being harmed?**

 _Apart from that...nope?_

 _Me neither..._

 **Well, I see how well I hold conversations on my own...anyways, anyone want to do the honors of making the ending statements?**

 _Already done it..._

 _I've done my "daily quota"..._

 _ **We'll handle it.**_

 ** _Please read, respond, and let us know about what you thought of this chapter. We're going to be going in a bit deep, and warning: the official story in Re;Birth1 will, again, not be followed closely._**

 ** _Thanks for reading, Fanfiction readers. This is the Neuroi core known as Lionelis…_**

 _Kirino, the AI partner of Ekiro268…_

 _Ekiro268 here, the "weapons expert"_

 **And Dilnos521, the author...**

 **We will see you guys in the next chapter.**

 **[Additional Notes (3/7/17): I am now part of a Discord server as part of my involvement with the "FanFic Collective". It's open to anyone who wants to join, and I and some of (if not all) the authors already in the Discord or part of the group will try our best to supply links on our pages. However, if you're interested in joining and want to ensure that you can find the link in question, then you need to find the wiki page we have for the group (Google it; it should be the first link). You can also learn more information about its purpose and how you can help out by heading there. If you have any questions, let me know via PM and I will do my best to answer them to my best abilities. Thanks, and I will see you guys in the next update.]**


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